Ford Motor Co., criticized heavily for creating the mammoth Excursion, is getting the last laugh.
The company is selling every one it can make and seeking ways to build more.
Ford already holds orders for 50,000 Excursions and can only build 60,000 units annually, said Jim O'Connor, Ford Division president, during an interview at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this month. The sport-utility, called a gas guzzler by environmentalists, was introduced last fall.
Ford will decide within 90 days if it will shift the production mix at its Louisville, Ky., assembly plant, O'Connor said. The plant also builds the Ford Super Duty F-series, F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550.
'We know there is more market potential,' O'Connor said.
Ford also is struggling to increase engine production. 'That is a limiting factor right now,' O'Connor said. The Excursion is powered by a 5.4-liter single overhead camshaft V-8, a 6.8-liter sohc V-10 and a 7.3-liter V-8 diesel.
The Excursion is not siphoning sales from other Ford products such as the Ford Expedition, O'Connor said.
'We have a lot of new-to-Ford buyers because we have never been in the segment before,' he said.
'People said we were going to cannibalize our own line. But for every Expedition coming in on trade, two (GM) Suburbans come in.'
