And why do those consumers prefer that diet?
Could it be because of a history of large amounts of open plains with cheap, accessible water and grass, and easy transportation of that meat (rails)? It's quite nutritious too (in a combination with other foods).
In Europe, farmland is at an extreme premium in most places given the higher population density and often unfriendly climate and geography.
Even more obvious a comparison is India, where veganism is obligatory for a large part of the population because the population density vs farmland would otherwise cause large portions of the population to starve.
Could they be using those cars because there is generally more space in US cities (with a few exceptions that have been around longer, like NYC, Boston, Baltimore, etc.) so there is less need to restrict them in size, AND most of the United States has incredibly low population density, AND a lot of nice places to visit, so folks are more likely to go sizable distances - for friends, family, vacations, etc?
And since the US has been developing rapidly, as compared to already developed, infrastructure is constantly struggling to keep up, so there is a lot of value in a general purpose vehicle that doesn't require existing infrastructure as much.
And why are there more cheaply built houses? Because unlike in Europe, there aren't any old houses where most of the economic and population growth is occurring. Unlike Europe, most of the US has still never had European style development, and it shows. There hasn't been time.
And due to large shifts in the US economy as it figures out how to adapt, grow, and change (with no existing historical industrial/residential base to contend with either), it has to build it now. And if you constantly have to keep building new housing in places because of growth, and you don't know where people will actually want to stay (because no history), why spend more than you have to do so? You might end up abandoning it in 10 years because someone found somewhere better.
The whole 'a hundred years is a long time in America, and 100 miles is a long way in Europe' (or 100km - you pick).
I've spent a lot of time in Europe and the US.
The socio-economics and historical time to develop are wildly different, and those socio-economics and time are a large part of why you see what you see.
In Europe, there are very few places that someone doesn't already have a stake in the ground - and they will use that to force you to pay them to get out of your way, or comply with some expensive standard too.
In the US, that is starting to occur, but hasn't happened yet except in the Urban areas. Most of the US is still completely, totally empty.
It isn't because American's are somehow more gluttonous or evil. They're using the tools they have to fit the problems they have given the constraints they have. Same as everyone else.
The continental (contiguous) United States has a population density of 36 people per sq km.
Western Europe has a population density of 181 per sq km. or 5 times the US.
India, for instance, is 464 per sq km, or 12 times the US.
North America was colonized by European Migrants and started European style development only 3-500 years ago.
Most major (and minor) cities in Europe formed thousands of years ago, and anything less than a 100 years old is often 'new'.