Oh without any doubt, I would say it's the bean counters. It's not a lack of knowhow I would guess. I would just think that the bean counters would allow better quality. But it goes back to that ol' saying of "it's worth what the people will pay for it".
Shaking my damn head.
Seriously??
8,500 bucks??
And I'm not sure if it's just the pic, but the orange peel in the paint looks horrid. Ford has always skimped on paint (hell, my winter driving 22 GMC truck has great paint) but for 70k, you think they would at least try...