People keep saying that "Europeans don't drive much" but there are quite a few models from European manufacturers with very high ranges - over a 1000 miles. And they seem pretty popular with the people I know who have (and need) company cars.
You mean that diesel extends the range, is that the variable you are missing? At 20 mpg you need 50 gallons of fuel. At 50 mpg you need 20g. Cars with 20g fuel usually get 20mpg for a 400 mile range. On the flip side, many more models with diesel have higher ranges because the fuel capacity is set for petrol (20g) and swapping in diesel increases the energy payload per unit volume (40-50mpg).
Possibly - I wouldn't say my driving patterns are that unusual and I live in a small European country and I wouldn't buy a car that didn't have at least a 450 mile range and I know people (particularly in Germany) who make much longer trips very regularly and who have specifically purchased cars with very high ranges.
Well, a weekend for me might involve driving 150-200 miles to the middle of nowhere (literally) walking or skiing and then driving back - with very few filling stations for most of that distance and then most of them being small rural businesses that close early (especially on a Sunday).
[NB I walk to work, my wife walks to work and my son walks to school - we even do a lot of our shopping by walking - I wouldn't pretend our car usage patterns are typical].
One issue might be the price differences for petrol across the countries. As an example, many Italians near the border like to fill their tanks in Switzerland. The bigger the tank, the longer you can run with it.
