The Mercedes‐Benz A‐class crisis
Corporate Communications: An International Journal
ISSN: 1356-3289
Article publication date: 1 March 2001
Abstract
The launch of the Mercedes‐Benz A‐class in 1997 was greeted with enthusiasm by the international motoring community until the Swedish “elk‐test” was performed. A spate of toppling cars was not how Mercedes‐Benz had pictured the launch of their new, safe supermini. Early public relations activity only succeeded in exacerbating the crisis. This case study highlights the mistakes made in the initial stages of the crisis, before examining the strategy employed by Mercedes‐Benz to recover the situation. This article concludes that a more open, honest and proactive approach to crisis communication might have saved Mercedes‐Benz a great deal of money and embarrassment.
Keywords
Citation
Puchan, H. (2001), "The Mercedes‐Benz A‐class crisis", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 42-46. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563280110381215
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited