Defending the Mercedes A-Class: Combining and Changing Crisis-Response Strategies

Abstract

Mercedes-Benz faced a major public relations problem when the newly launched A-Class overturned during a test drive journalists in Sweden conducted. The reputation of Mercedes's star was at stake as critics accused the German company of producing an unsafe car. This interpretive article uses theories of rhetoric, crisis response, and coherence to analyze the changing strategies employed by Mercedes in response to this crisis. The article advises public relations managers that the characterological coherence of standing one's ground must be weighed against argumentative and material coherence. Characterological coherence might instead be reached by admitting error.