I get the feeling you’ve never been outside North America if you think cars here are small.
I think he’s talking about all non-suv or trucks in the US being small or underpowered. Not other country cars being small.
Well, except the article is about Paris and cars in the US are not small or underpowered… at all. Kind of a ridiculous statement, actually. The average car in Europe is much smaller than those in the US with a much smaller engine. For example, the most popular car in France in 2022 was the Peugot 208 with a 1.2L engine with around 74hp and a length of 4m, while the most popular car in the US, the Camry has a engine options ranging between 2.4L-3.5L, around 208hp and a length of 4.8m (almost 3’ longer for you yanks).
I mean, they have to be. European fuel prices are double or more and most countries/cities have proper transit and were not built for US size cars (or any cars for that matter).