The situation was not that bad in Europe before WWII , but a similar difference between the cities and the country .Europeans only had animals or the train, unlike Henry Ford selling cheap Model T's for the masses in the states
Here is a Picture of the traffic in Paris in 1937. By the end of the Twenties, many European constructors had visited the Henry Ford facilities and improved their mass production knowledge.
Renault and Citroën had already mass production assembly lines in France.
So by the end of the Forties, Paris looked like that. Nice recovery, thanks to the US Marshall plan .
There are many post war cars on that picture. The Ford T equivalent (or VW Cox), i.e the 2CV Citroen, was ready before WWII, but obviously stopped before being in production.
But after the war, Citroën quickly restarted the 2CV (2 HP) project and launched mass production lines in France.
Yves