Why are cars Painted?

[Crazy Dazz]

It's one of those weird "facts of life" that often leaves me puzzled.
Is there anything more pointless than turning out a new car with a bright shiny paint job??

First thing they do is cover the car in plastic, because otherwise it wouldn't even make it to the dealership unscathed.

Is there anything more disheartening, than having your new car for a few days, and some oxygen thief doors it in the carpark?
Then there's all the stonechips, bird****, bugs, cats, etc. And that's before we start talking about actual crashes.

Surely by now we could have come up with a better, more resilient coating?

I actually wonder if maybe cars shouldn't just come with a plastic coating from the factory?
Or maybe even entire panels made from Coloured plastic?
(The crazy thing is that even parts that are made from plastics, we paint them anyway.)