Zn alloys are able to surpass the performance of electrogalvanised or hot-dip Zn (at same thickness) for corrosion protection of car bodies. In particular, vacuum deposited Zn alloy layers have higher protection power on non-painted steel surfaces as compared with pure Zn layers. In the present work the Zn-Mn system was investigated: Zn/Mn alloys of different compositions as well as Zn/Mn multilayers of 5-6 mum total thickness were prepared on low alloy steel by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD). The equipment contained two electron beam evaporators and a slit extraction ion source, delivering ions of 100-1500 eV energy. The corrosion behaviour of the samples was evaluated by standard salt spray tests (SST). The composition and microstructure of the coatings was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and EDX-depth profiling. The behaviour of the coating/substrate system is discussed in comparison with 'state of the art' Zn-coatings (EZ) produced by electrogalvanizing. Generally speaking, the performance of the optimised coatings is as good or better than the reference standard. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.