Europoor here, we never used the cup holder for holding cups in my life time.

The only acceptable usage was throwing coins that you don’t know where to put, usually for paying the motorway tolls in France (but this has also disappeared in favor of cards).

But on the same cultural differences, I bet I’ve seen the cigarette lighter and ashtray being more used than you had (during the 80 and 90s when cars still had them).