????近期披露的一則內部消息成了汽車業的不和諧音，它提醒我們：全球多數汽車巨頭中為數眾多的一部分仍由家族勢力掌控大權。

????大眾汽車公司（VW）監事會主席費迪南?皮耶近期宣布，他計劃在現職上再留任五到七年，而他的嫡系門徒、公司董事會主席馬丁?文德恩也有此計劃。鑒于大眾近年來管理有方，業績蒸蒸日上，這個消息也并不讓人有多驚訝——只不過皮耶已年屆75歲，文德恩也有65歲了，而這個決定顯然事前并未和董事會成員或股東有過任何溝通。

????不過，日后皮耶在事關大眾的決策上再也不用有所顧忌了。今年，大眾汽車收購了由皮耶-保時捷家族控制的保時捷公司（Porsche）后，保時捷擁有了大眾汽車50.7%的普通股。自去年夏天皮耶讓妻子進入大眾汽車監事會以來，皮耶和保時捷家族的成員現在在管理層的10個席位中已經占據了5席。

????大眾汽車現在是歐洲唯一一家能盈利的量產車企，而且正在大步邁向全球最大車企的寶座，因此公司的非家族股東對上述局面也沒什么可抱怨的。但對其他由家族掌控的車企來說，情況就未必如此了。

????A recent disclosure came as jarring reminder that -- at a surprising number of the world's most prominent automakers -- family come first.

????Ferdinand Piech, chairman of Volkswagen's supervisory board, announced that he was planning to remain on the job for another five to seven years, and that his protégé, Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the management board, would do the same. That wouldn't have been so surprising since VW has enjoyed a very successful run lately -- except that Piech is 75 years old, and Winterkorn is 65, and the decision had apparently been reached with no prior discussion with any other board members or shareholders.

????But then Piech seldom has to look any further than a mirror when making a decision about VW. Following this year's acquisition of Porsche, which is controlled by the Piech-Porsche family, Porsche owns 50.7% of VW's common stock. Since Piech appointed his wife to the VW supervisory board last summer, members of the Piech and Porsche families now control five of the ten management seats.

????With VW the only profitable volume manufacturer in Europe and headed toward becoming?the largest auto company in the world, its non-family shareholders have little to complain about. The same can't always be said of other family-run automakers.