I think I'll dive into this one as it's a topic close to my heart, what with being one of those 'commie Europeans' now living in the states...
America is different to most other places in a few ways when it comes to cars.
Firstly, unlike most first world nations, Americans see driving as a right, not a privilege. In most nations, citizens don't see themselves as having a 'right' to drive any more than they have a 'right' to fly a light aircraft. It's a privilege that one must demonstrate competence to exercise.
America is different. In America, driving is seen as 'essential', and so any barriers to that are vigorously resisted. The US driving test is an utter joke compared to other first world countries. As such, basically everybody can drive, but the overall standard of driving is the lowest I have ever witnessed in any civilized nation. By far.
There are few restrictions on things like vehicle standards. The overall standard for 'roadworthiness' of vehicles is the lowest I have ever witnessed in a first world country (no safety testing requirement at all in most states).
Enforcement of driving laws is incredibly lax. Habitual offenses for things like drink driving are more accepted than any other first world nation I have ever been in, whilst most cops don't seem to even understand why things like tailgating or lane hogging should be ticketed, let alone bother doing so. Vehicle related deaths are correspondingly high, being closer to Russia, Pakistan or Egypt on a per 100,000 people basis than any first world country (
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/road-deaths-by-country).
There are knock on effects too. If everyone is 'expected' to drive, those who do not, must not do so as they're too poor. It carries a stigma.
If everyone is expected to drive, then little investment is made in alternative transport arrangements. After all, everyone chooses to drive anyway. This is a vicious cycle. Everyone driving means no public transport. It means parking is needed. That means designing residential areas around cars. This makes it harder to get around any other way... and on it goes. Almost all American infrastructure is all contemporary with cars (except maybe some bits of NY, CHI and Philly) and is designed around it. European cities are not. The difference is incredibly obvious. Just visit London vs LA for the demonstration.
This also leads to a situation where most Americans don't even see any alternatives, let alone consider them. As an example, I was in Dallas last week for a work trip with a couple of colleagues. We wanted to go to a bar near the hotel after work one evening. Immediately they all started volunteering to drive. It was literally 300 yards away. They hadn't even considered just walking there... I wandered over, paid nothing for parking and I could have a couple beers. They seemed genuinely confused. So it seems was the city. There were no sidewalks in sight and no pedestrian crossings...
There's also the cars. This is a funny lesson in unintended consequences on the part of the EPA.
Back in the 80's CAFE ratings were introduced imposing stringent emissions ratings on passenger cars. BUT certain 'working' vehicles such as pick ups and SUVs were exempt. After all, farmers or contractors probably do need a big V8 to move their 3 tons of mulch or their stock trailer, so it's hardly fair to make them less competitive, especially as only those types of people bought such impractical vehicles anyway...
In the 2000's this was made worse when a further graduation was introduced to the regs linking them to footprint. After all, bigger cars probably do need a bigger engine with more power to make them practical.
Manufacturers had a choice. Either spend lots of money making small, efficient cars with lots of tech to hit the emissions regs... or, just make cars bigger every year whilst moving advertising spend to higher margin pick ups and SUVs which enjoyed laxer standards which were cheaper to meet.
The net result?
The F-150 is now America's most popular passenger vehicle. Cars grow larger every year.
The fuel economy of these vehicles may be awful, they may be totally impractical for 80%+ of buyers, sure, they're an objectively terrible vehicle for the average suburbanite to commute to the office in. But that doesn't matter. The advertising spend and product planning made them cool, they attract plenty of government incentives (I paid a couple grand in gas guzzler tax on my Challenger, yet a RAM 1500 gets worse mpg and pays none at all), and now everyone wants one. A triumph of marketing and poor policy over common sense. A country where 80% of the population lives in urban areas picks a full size truck as their most popular vehicle as a result of... emissions regulations. You've gotta laugh.
Source:
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24139147/suvs-trucks-popularity-federal-policy-pollution