I think this thread is blown way out of proportion. This is a business taking the advice of their lawyers to protect its intellectual property. The legal argument is to exercise control over the quality of the product or service of its trademarks. It's the sole reason people bother to get trademarks in the first place.
I am curious to see the outcome though. Ford went after forums and club sites last year, ordering them to pay fines and surrender the domain names. However, in court they were only able to stop these sites from using photographs, depictions or silhouettes, or any similar variation that infringed on Ford's intellectual property. The actual domain name itself was not deemed as an "identifier" of Ford.