Volkswagen: family planning - FT.com When campaigners call for more female boardroom representation, they probably don't mean giving the chairman's wife a seat at the table. But Volkswagen has long ignored any corporate governance wish-list. Witness the battles with European Union officials over the "Volkswagen law," which has helped to protect the company from hostile takeover. Now the likely accession of Ursula Piëch, wife of VW chairman Ferdinand Piëch, to the company's supervisory board looks set to embed the Piëch-Porsche family's influence at the German automaker. It will have five of the 20 board seats, as well as control of Porsche SE, which holds a majority of VW's shares. All of which means that outside investors need to be doubly convinced of VW's prospects. The company's positioning, in terms of both brand mix and geographical spread, means that it has come through the industry's recent turmoil in much better shape than many of its competitors. Last month, VW announced an impressive jump in operating margins from 5.6 per cent to 7.1 per cent in 2011, in spite of higher fixed costs and depreciation as development ramps up - and record operating profit of €11.3bn. Even so, about half of VW's unit sales are still drawn from Europe, where the recessionary climate means that light vehicle sales are widely expected to decline this year. Pricing pressures at the volume end of the market could also be intense. On Monday, VW reported a good start to the year - global deliveries up 7.7 per cent in January and February. But it was more cautious on the profit front, anticipating flat earnings before interest and tax. That leaves the shares on a multiple of 7 times consensus earnings for 2012. They have motored strongly in recent months, but with no clarity on how or when consolidation of Porsche's carmaking business will be achieved, may cruise for a while.