Anyone know if there are plans to have painted panels come from the factory. My wife wants an Element and we are looking into having the panels painted at the dealer, but are afraid of chip, peel, fade and crack in a couple of years. Thanks for the info and I'm excited about this site.

Can't answer the question, but I just wanted to mention that the fact that the panels are not painted is a feature in my book: they're very cheap to replace when damaged/scratched, vs. a painted panel (either metal or plastic)

-brendan