It didn't take as long as anticipated and you can’t question the fact that the Cash for Clunkers program got the results it wanted. The program that was supposed to last until November on a $1 billion budget has finally come to an end – and not without the government having to shell out another $2 billion for the program.

All in all, the program generated a little over 700,000 car sales with a total estimate of a staggering $2.877 billion. Percentages of car sales saw that the most popular purchase were pick-up trucks, with 84% of all participating customers buying one of their own. Additionally, 59% purchased passenger cars while the remaining 41% fell on the other vehicle lines.

Curiously, the three most purchased cars under the program – although it is still being questioned by a number of sources – all belong to Japanese manufacturers. Sitting on top was the Toyota Corolla followed closely by its chief rival, the Honda Civic. Rounding out the top 3 is the Toyota Camry. As far as local brands are concerned, the Ford Focus – which for a time, was in the top spot - and the Ford Escape were the top sellers.

The CFC program also showed that most Americans actually prefer foreign brands more than their local counterparts – 61.8% of all cars sold were from foreign automakers while the 38.6% belonged to the three Detroit brands.

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