Yes, mistakes happen, even at that level. But how you deal with a mistake after you've made it is what makes all the difference.
Mercedes seems to 'own' the problem, they admitted that they did wrong and seem sincere in that. They could have responded a lot worse in this particular case and I don't see how they could have responded better.
Compare to VW who initially attempted to blame a bunch of engineers (trying to distance the brand from the action instead of owning up to what they full well knew they did, the details of which are only now emerging and are in direct contradiction to what they initially said and wrote).
> Compare to VW who initially attempted to blame a bunch of engineers
That’s quite a misinformation.
VW US said "rogue engineers".
VW DE fired the CEO and suspended 20 top engineers, several of whom were on the board of the company (VW mostly recruits managers from their own engineers).
Mercedes seems to 'own' the problem, they admitted that they did wrong and seem sincere in that. They could have responded a lot worse in this particular case and I don't see how they could have responded better.
Compare to VW who initially attempted to blame a bunch of engineers (trying to distance the brand from the action instead of owning up to what they full well knew they did, the details of which are only now emerging and are in direct contradiction to what they initially said and wrote).