diff --git a/src/hdf5plugin/_version.py b/src/hdf5plugin/_version.py
index ba54e388..e3faa357 100644
--- a/src/hdf5plugin/_version.py
+++ b/src/hdf5plugin/_version.py
@@ -38,8 +38,8 @@ class _VersionInfo(NamedTuple):
     releaselevel: str = "final"
     serial: int = 0
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def from_string(version: str) -> "_VersionInfo":
+    @classmethod
+    def from_string(cls, version: str) -> "_VersionInfo":
         pattern = r"(?P<major>\d+)\.(?P<minor>\d+)\.(?P<micro>\d+)((?P<prerelease>a|b|rc)(?P<serial>\d+))?"
         match = re.fullmatch(pattern, version, re.ASCII)
         fields = {k: v for k, v in match.groupdict().items() if v is not None}
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ def from_string(version: str) -> "_VersionInfo":
         ]
         version_fields = {k: int(v) for k, v in fields.items()}
 
-        return _VersionInfo(releaselevel=releaselevel, **version_fields)
+        return cls(releaselevel=releaselevel, **version_fields)
 
 
 version_info = _VersionInfo.from_string(version)