So, my parents just purchased a new audi a6. I accompanied them to the dealership because they wanted me there. During our first visit, the sales person asked about other cars we were looking at. My mother had said the Acura RL. The sales person then brings us some slabs of sheet metal. One japanese - the other- german. She showed us that the german sheet metal was thicker and therefore better because it was stronger (implied safer and less likely to ding) and overall better quality. Of course, sheet metal strength is important but just as important or even more so the engineering of the car and whether it was designed to be safe. I was just wondering how you guys would generally rank the sheet metal thickness of: German, Japanese, Korean, Scandinavian, American, and anything I left out. Maybe this is hard to do because I know for instance that merc and bmw vary in sheet metal thickness (i think merc is heavier). Reason I ask, I was driving down the highway and saw a black honda accord coupe that went past me and was able to see it's profile from the rear across the front and saw all these dings in the paint. Although I am careful with my car, I couldn't help but think about what that salesperson said about softness. Comments?