[jones89176]

I think it's mainly a regulation/law thing:

"In contrast, European regulations are much stricter regarding the dimensions of trucks. In European Union member countries, trucks cannot exceed 18.75 meters in length, which prioritizes the maximum use of available space for cargo. Manufacturers resort to solutions such as the use of smaller cabs and flat bodies to comply with these regulations while still maintaining cargo capacity."

https://www.sgibinc.com/en/differences-between-american-and-...

[stevage]

Thanks - presumably those regulations on length didn't come out of nowhere though, right?

[jones89176]

Here's the actual EU directive:

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/1996/53/oj/eng

I tried to find some official document that properly explained how and why they agreed on these values, but it's really hard to find proper documents. After all, the directive was agreed on in 1996...

Here's a link to perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/why-is-the-length-of-trucks...

To sum it up, it's a mix of everything: Safety (for infrastructure and humans), efficiency, and of course EU-wide harmonization of standards.