For Xiaopeng Motors,which is counterattacking,the domain name layout is the key!

Pony.ai Chairman and CEO James Peng attended the GeekPark Rebuild 2020 conference and participated in a dialogue. James Peng stated that he had made a substantial amount of money from Tesla stock. "I actually have great confidence that Tesla will become a great company, with a market value of over $500 billion, right?"

Pony.ai, as the first internet-based car manufacturer to enter the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers' new energy vehicle sales rankings, has shown significant progress in the new energy vehicle industry.

Upgrading the Brand Domain to Enhance Brand Value

In 2014, James Peng, the founder of UC and former head of Alibaba Mobile Business Group, along with co-investors including YY founder Li Xueling, Cheetah Mobile CEO Fu Sheng, and Tencent executive Wu Xiaoguang, established Pony.ai. Over the past few years, it has become one of the many electric vehicle companies to emerge.

With no revenue, no mass production, and frequently challenging the industry's delivery capabilities, Pony.ai was initially underestimated by outsiders. However, in just a few short years, it made a comeback and gained favor with leading internet investment companies like Alibaba, IDG, and Xiaomi.

Previously, Pony.ai used chengzimotor.com as its official website domain, translating to "Orange Motor," which was related to its operating entity, Guangzhou Chengxing Intelligent Mobility Technology Co., Ltd. Although it aligned with its business positioning, it had a low association with the "Pony" brand and was not conducive to user search recognition and memorability. Therefore, in September 2015, Pony.ai acquired and began using the double-spelled domain name xiaopeng.com, matching directly with the brand name.

Another example of using the founder's name as the brand is Li Xiang's Lixiang (Li Auto), whose official website domain is lixiang.com. This approach is beneficial for self-promotion, generating traffic, rapid monetization, and personalizing the brand, making it the best path to create a super IP.

James Peng, an internet veteran, understands the importance of brand value and has a forward-thinking approach to protecting trademarks and brand domains. When he founded UC, he used the two-letter domain uc.cn as UC's official website domain. Later, UC was acquired by Alibaba for $4 billion, and currently, the domain name redirects to Alibaba Group's UC Browser website. For Pony.ai, he not only acquired double-spelled domains but also protected 13 other brand-related domains, including x-peng.cn and xptravel.cn.

In May 2019, Pony.ai announced its formal entry into the ride-hailing industry, naming its product "You Peng Chu Xing" (Pony Ride). Correspondingly, Pony.ai also protected the domain name youpengchuxing.com, as well as youpengcx.cn and youpengtrip.cn, among others. It can be said that Pony.ai is well-prepared in terms of domain name protection.

Secret IPO Abroad with Complete Domain Preparation

Recently, there have been reports that Pony.ai has secretly submitted an IPO filing to the US stock market, planning to raise $500 million. The overall listing plan is expected to take place between July and September this year, with the hiring of investment banks such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, with JPMorgan as the lead underwriter.

Unlike in the past, Chinese concept stocks are currently experiencing a "mass withdrawal" from the US stock market, and the listing requirements for US stocks are becoming stricter. Additionally, Pony.ai, which is still in ongoing intellectual property litigation with Tesla, can it really IPO smoothly?

However, despite the challenging IPO environment, Pony.ai seems to have everything prepared when it comes to domain names, waiting for the right moment.

Many well-known companies upgrade their brand domains before going public, switching to domains more closely related to their business. Pony.ai, on the other hand, has been ready since 2015, fully prepared and not going into battle without proper provisions.

For companies, it's crucial to plan their brand building from the beginning, and establishing their own brand-specific domain is essential. In the early stages of a company's development and expansion, domain name protection is necessary to pave the way for future growth.

For example, in the electric vehicle manufacturing industry, Tesla spent 13 years and $70 million to repurchase the Tesla.com domain. If a company waits until its brand image is established before thinking about repurchasing its brand domain, the cost will be enormous.

For Pony.ai, in the competitive landscape of the new energy vehicle market, early preparation in brand domain layout not only avoids issues that could affect the company's image but also facilitates market expansion and helps the company seize the advantage in brand promotion.

In the future, whether Pony.ai can successfully go public abroad and claim the top position in the new energy vehicle industry, we will have to wait and see together!