No. He's not comparing US vs France, you read that into it. He's comparing a car from 1985 (which happens to be French) to a car from 2025 (which happens to be made in the US).
You're attributing the difference to different countries, but everyone else here sees it's mostly it's from a different era.
There's the Citroen Nemo. It's a more compact version and I believe closer in size to the older panel vans. The new Berlingos are wider and taller than they used to be.
Today, Citroen's equivalent offering is the Berlingo. Starts at 26k, not as much of a tank as the other cars but still way more massive than the C15.