On the other hand, getting a big company their own TLD can be easier to maintain. For VW, having everything under the .volkswagen TLD means they don't need to have 100 different domains for each country (like volkswagen.com, volkswagen.co.uk, volkswagen.fr, and so on), each of them with different terms (in some countries you have to pay a yearly fee, in others you don't).

On the other hand, the new TLD only means just another name to maintain, as I don't think anyone will actually remove the ".com" domain when they get their own TLD. One of them will be redirected to the other, and for 99% of the time the custom one will be redirected to the older.

How about golf.volkswagen for the VW page with information on the VW Golf, and mygolf.volkswagen for a community site dedicated to customized or modified VW Golfs? That would differentiate the car club from say, augusta.golf (which would represent the golf course Augusta National).

I believe the rules state that a registrar selling these domains (which VW would then be) must give equal access to everyone (or something along those lines).

question 2.21 in this FAQ from ICANN would suggest that the flood of ".brand" gTLDs should all fail:

http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/customer-service/faq...

that said, ICANN's process has not inspired confidence that these sorts of requirements will survive. that someone wouldn't sell you a name under a new gTLD (e.g. under .apple, .google, .volkswagen, etc) is one of the problems they are trying to get rid of. why people applied for .brand names when the guidelines and FAQ suggest they'll be forbidden tells me one thing: they expect the rulebook to be thrown out. in the end, it's a cheap gamble.

the whole process, beginning to now, has inflamed a lot of ICANN watchers, and while i'm normally understanding and supportive of ICANN i tend to agree. this is careening to a cluster f---.