I have no statistics to back this up, but as far as I can tell the US seems way bigger on both buying new cars instead of used and on buying cars on finance ins

I have no statistics to back this up, but as far as I can tell the US seems way bigger on both buying new cars instead of used and on buying cars on finance instead of outright. You're not saving money buying a brand new BMW on finance in the US instead of Europe if you could have bought a perfectly good used car for 5000 USD in cash.