diff --git a/ironic/common/exception.py b/ironic/common/exception.py
index 71f0bd86e2..6b62c380a8 100644
--- a/ironic/common/exception.py
+++ b/ironic/common/exception.py
@@ -88,6 +88,13 @@ class IronicException(Exception):
 
         super(IronicException, self).__init__(message)
 
+    def __str__(self):
+        """Encode to utf-8 then wsme api can consume it as well."""
+        if not six.PY3:
+            return unicode(self.args[0]).encode('utf-8')
+
+        return self.args[0]
+
     def format_message(self):
         if self.__class__.__name__.endswith('_Remote'):
             return self.args[0]
diff --git a/ironic/tests/test_exception.py b/ironic/tests/test_exception.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..75e8c7cfb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ironic/tests/test_exception.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#    Copyright (c) 2015 IBM, Corp.
+#
+#    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+#    not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+#    a copy of the License at
+#
+#         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+#    WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+#    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+#    under the License.
+
+import six
+
+from ironic.common import exception
+from ironic.tests import base
+
+
+class TestIronicException(base.TestCase):
+    def test____init__(self):
+        expected = '\xc3\xa9\xe0\xaf\xb2\xe0\xbe\x84'
+        if six.PY3:
+            message = chr(233) + chr(0x0bf2) + chr(3972)
+        else:
+            message = unichr(233) + unichr(0x0bf2) + unichr(3972)
+        exc = exception.IronicException(message)
+        self.assertEqual(expected, exc.__str__())