As an european who drive's an Escalade I can enlighten a little. First, we do not call these trucks, just big cars. Light truck here is vehicle over 3500kg GVWR and heavy trucks over 12000kg GVWR. That also brings 80-90 km/h speed limit(er), depending on country, which is why only half-ton is popular (among people who need one). Truck word is mostly used for vehicles that are heavy duty trucks in US parlance.
I live in northern europe where we have a little more space and longer distances than central/southern europe so it's useful (we take long trips to our home country so need the cargo space). Germany maybe an exception but trucks are too slow for autobahns.
Also, our weather is shittier than most of the states so more people use vans than pickups.
And gas is really expensive here
