I kind of agree with this,
The VZ I had has the soft touch material all the way down the door, and the rear of the seats. However the hard dash plastics felt cheap as chips. In turn the soft touch plastics of the VE crap all over that of the VZ and the hard plastics of the dash feel of better quality and fit is a step up.
However, the soft touch plastics don't go all the way down the door, or the seat backs and are much more easily scratched. Shadow chrome on the steering wheel has been replaced with silver plastic and the door handles are no longer made with real metal (I really liked that in the VZ, it just oozed class, so nice to touch, cold the touch)
I have noticed though in riding in Omega over my SS-V the soft touch pads that sit atop of the doors, are actually moulded plastics, and not soft to the touch. I don't know if this like it all later VE's. All the lower alcantara trimming is gone in the Series II. That's just cheaping out.