diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/main.go b/cluster-autoscaler/main.go
index 975094311b44..93a23dd8a291 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/main.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/main.go
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ var (
 	address                 = flag.String("address", ":8085", "The address to expose prometheus metrics.")
 	kubernetes              = flag.String("kubernetes", "", "Kubernetes master location. Leave blank for default")
 	kubeConfigFile          = flag.String("kubeconfig", "", "Path to kubeconfig file with authorization and master location information.")
+	kubeAPIContentType      = flag.String("kube-api-content-type", "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf", "Content type of requests sent to apiserver.")
 	kubeClientBurst         = flag.Int("kube-client-burst", rest.DefaultBurst, "Burst value for kubernetes client.")
 	kubeClientQPS           = flag.Float64("kube-client-qps", float64(rest.DefaultQPS), "QPS value for kubernetes client.")
 	cloudConfig             = flag.String("cloud-config", "", "The path to the cloud provider configuration file.  Empty string for no configuration file.")
@@ -408,6 +409,8 @@ func getKubeConfig() *rest.Config {
 		klog.Fatalf("Failed to build Kubernetes client configuration: %v", err)
 	}
 
+	kubeConfig.ContentType = *kubeAPIContentType
+
 	return kubeConfig
 }