Car bodies are not galvanised as such i.e. they are not dipped in molton zinc. If they were they would distort and no 2 cars would ever be the same shape plus paint does nor stick to galvanising very well unless the propper etch primers are used. All new cars are dipped in an electrically charged paint that gets into all the nooks and crannies, this paint is zinc rich thus the confusion with galvanised bodywork.

Galvanising consists of electrodeposition. Hot-dip is commonly called galvanising but isn't strictly.

It would seem that a simple Google search reveals that a number of brands are galvanised.

My Astra had a 12-year anti-perforation warranty - it wasn't galvanised - Vauxhall were no doubt relying on the fact that owners wouldn't have it inspected every year during full-price servicing at a franchised dealer.

My Hyundai has a 10-year anti-perforation warranty, it's not galvanised either.

Warranty is all about marketing and ensuring that the cost of meeting claims is built into the initial price.

My Astra had a 12-year anti-perforation warranty - it wasn't galvanised

All Astras from 1998 onwards are fully galvanised.

They still rust around the wheel arches as they didn't bother cleaning the spot welds before the zinc is applied, so they rust from the inside out. Vx won't cover it, either.

So it was - and checking further, so is my Hyundai - strange how brochures hide that in the small print.

I worked for a large washing machine facturer many years ago their cabinets were made out of steel galvanised with zinc the metal was called zinctec never had any warped cabinets.When I visited the Pheaton body plant recently the bodies underwent a process called zinc electrolysis after being degreased.So the question is when is zinc not zinc.

From my schoolboy science, galvanising and zinc electrolysis are the same thing - but I'm no expert on this.

Almost every car is made with zinc coated steel.. It's the only way to resist rust.

I don't think Fords are very good at resisting rust generally; I have seen several Mk1 Focuses with the rear door bottoms rotting out and the original Ka is very bad for rust, so much so that there was some comment in Autocar about it recently. I bet the Ka was never galvanised; I don't believe it was even painted properly.

I agree with you, however, I have just bought a new Ka after owning a twelve year old Micra for ten years which was just showing rust around the wheel arches. I have had Fiestas before which showed rust after about five years and said I wouldn't buy another Ford for that reason but I don't like the new Micra or Aygo and I do love the Ka. I am just going to keep it clean and polished and hope they have improved with this model.