“As a company, you wouldn’t invest in producing in the U.S. now,” Oliver Ouboter told me. “I don’t even know if the tariffs are going to hold up for three months. It’s kind of impossible to plan. So all these products will just become more expensive. There will be less variety.”
In this, Micro is not alone—all European and Asian car makers are facing the same brutal math. “Let’s imagine a scenario in which you have 25% tariffs today. And then sometime in the future it isn’t 25% anymore. Then you have huge fluctuation of prices. It is impossible,” Ouboter said.
Nor is moving car manufacturing a solution for all foreign brands, he said. To make the Microlino in the U.S., the OEMs he sources his parts from would need to move first. And even so, the influx of other manufacturers—in every sector from cars to pharmaceuticals to textile—would mean labor costs and prices would get out of control.
“If you look at the unemployment rate, if all these companies start manufacturing in the U.S., you need people. Where do you get them from? The prices will go even higher, because you will need to pay people even higher. There will be massive inflation on all goods,” Ouboter said.
As for the hit to revenues, Ouboter didn’t seem overly worried. He pointed to the remaining growth potential in Asian markets such as South Korea and European markets such as Germany, Switzerland and the U.K., where Micro still gets a majority of its revenues. “We’ll focus on innovations for their older populations, making our products more accessible in these markets,” he said. — Peter Vanham
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Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
