I can confirm the gearstick surround is plastic, and has a deep gloss lacquer. I scratched mine in the first week of upgrading it. Luckily my dealer replaced it for me and said it was only lacquer covered. When you remove them or buy them new on the underside you'll see its plastic.

Hi Mark

Yeah just had a closer look at mine and yes it would appear to be plastic, I can only assume the autosol just worked like a cutting paste on the lacquer as it certainly removed the light scratches, and there are no visible marks where I used it. So in my case I can only assume they were just light marks in the lacquer and had not gone through to the plastic.

Cheers
Col