Over 7,000 orders have already been taken for the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera, putting the plug-in hybrid on course to outstrip its American cousin, the Chevrolet Volt.

General Motors subsidiary Opel announced earlier this month it was well on its way to meeting a target of selling 10,000 of the cars in Europe this year, surpassing even its most optimistic projections.

“We are extremely pleased with the continuing demand for our Ampera,” said Enno Fuchs, Opel’s e-mobility launch director. “This news shows us that our sales target of 10,000 units for 2012 is well within reach.”

Customer deliveries started last month for the Ampera, named 2012 European Car of the Year before the Geneva motorshow earlier this month. It has an all-electric range of between 40km and 80km (25 miles to 50 miles) combined with a 1.4 litre petrol engine that supplements the battery.

Its success comes as quite a contrast to the Volt, with GM selling just over 7,600 Volts in the US during 2011, well short of its 10,000 target.

This year also started badly as the company only shifted around 600 models in January and while sales picked up to 1,023 in February, the company announced that disappointing demand had forced it to close a production plant in Michigan for five weeks.

The car has also been dogged by technical problems and bad press, not least three incidents of battery packs bursting into flames during testing, which prompted a Federal investigation.