The biggest sales increases were recorded by Nissan (+88 percent) and Land Rover (+85 percent)
Sales of brands at Volkswagen Group, which had well-publicized difficulties getting models certified in time for the switch to WLTP standards, rose by 49 percent overall. Sales at Seat were up 72 percent, Skoda sales increased by 56 percent and VW brand by 47 percent. Audi sales increased by 27 percent.
Other brands with large increases included Jeep (+37 percent), PSA Group's upscale DS brand (+31 percent) and Renault (+30 percent).
PSA Group sales were up 8.4 percent, with Citroen sales increasing by 20 percent, Peugeot up 2.3 percent and Opel up 1.3 percent. Renault Group sales rose 22 percent, with Renault's strong showing offsetting a 2.3 percent decline at Dacia.
Ford's sales increased 16 percent.
BMW Group sales grew slightly, up 0.5 percent, as BMW brand sales shrunk by 5.6 percent and Mini sales rose 15 percent. Daimler's sales fell 8.3 percent, with a drop of 60 percent at Smart and 2.9 percent at Mercedes-Benz.
Among Asian brands, Hyundai sales rose 17 percent and Kia grew 11 percent. Toyota sales were up 12 percent, and a resurgent Lexus saw a sales increase of 25 percent, although with low volumes.
Sales of light-commercial vehicles, which were unaffected last year by WLTP disruptions, increased by 3.7 percent.
By powertrain, diesel sales achieved a market share of 34.1 percent, compared with 40 percent last year. Electric vehicle sales rose to 1.9 percent, compared with 1.2 percent last year.
Overall CO2 emissions fell to just under 110 grams per kilometer, the lowest level since 2016. CCFA said that was due to two factors: a slight uptick in diesel sales in September, and changes to automakers' model ranges.
Through September, sales fell 1.3 percent to 1.64 million, in line with most analysts' estimates.