True - but not a big puzzle why. The decline of the middle class in the USA, and to a lesser extent in Canada, with the money shifting to the super-rich, etc., has been less prevalent in Europe. So a great percentage of the population can afford cars.
This isn't particularly new - there was a good article in The Atlantic back in 2012. Probably a good Economist article on it somewhere.
Discard your stereotypes: people in the U.S. own fewer passenger on average than in almost all other developed nations.
www.theatlantic.com