German carmakers BMW, Mercedes, and Audi have recorded above-average sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles this year, according to a report by the Center of Automotive Management (CAM). While these vehicles represent only 3.9 percent of all cars newly registered in Germany between January and May, BMW, Mercedes, and Audi registered a share of between 7.0 and 8.3 percent, according to Clean Energy Wire.

VW, which bets heavily on purely electric vehicles, has only reached a plug-in share of 1.9 percent. CAM said a total of 74,980 pure electric and plug-in hybrids were sold in this period, an increase of 92 percent over the same period last year – 36,188 were battery electric vehicles (an increase of 43 percent) and 38.792 were plug-ins, an almost three-fold increase. VW is the pure electric vehicle market leader with sales of 9.090 cars, already exceeding last year’s total. This takes VW’s share of this car type to 4.9 percent, compared to 3.3 percent for Audi, 2.6 percent for BMW and 0.4 percent for Mercedes.

“The sales figures in Germany reveal that German automakers are better than their reputation in electromobility and can continue to benefit from the market ramp-up,” said Stefan Bratzel, who headed the analysis. He has forecast that total e-car sales will double this year to around 220,000 thanks to additional government support as part of the country’s stimulus package.