OBD2 became standard in Europe after an EU directive in 1999 for petrol cars and 2005 for diesels. All cars sold in europe after this date must be OBD2 compliant, and all powertrain fault codes must be standard, so you don't need a model to match your car.
In the US the Right to Repair act saw the introduction of OBD2 as a standard as early as 1996, so most Fords can be read from this date onwards even in europe, one notable exception being the 12 valve cologne engined vehicles, which were so rugged and well regarded that they kept selling them into the late '90s with a proprietary OBD1 management system.
Diesels are a particular pain as most manufacturers didn't comply until 2005.
Powertrain fault codes are prefixed with P and can be read by all OBD2 readers, body, aircon and braking codes are usually still proprietary, with many braking/stability systems using a seperate ECU which needs another peice of specialised kit to read.
Electronic diagnosis has caused a lot of unnecessary repair bills, with many garages replacing sensors when the reader points to a particular sensor. So they change the part and it all works. In reality these hall effect sensors are solid state and rarely fail. It's often the wire that is cracked, and in many cases the fault can be fixed with a crimp connector. The reader only reports the component it cannot sense properly, not the systems supporting it (wiring, plugs, fuses).
