Toyota, Suzuki, Honda, Mercedes, E-Mobility index, BMW, China.

Japan pushes for hybrids: Toyota will present the RAV4 Hybrid at the New York Auto Show next week. Furthermore, the Japanese corporation is planning to push domestic hybrid sales, i.e. by offering the new Prius plug-in with an all-electric range of 60 kilometres, Nikkei reports. Additionally, hybrid versions of Suzuki’s Impreza and Honda’s Odyssey are believed to appear this year.
nikkei.com, hybridcars.com (RAV4 Hybrid)

New plug-in Mercedes: Daimler will present the M-class’ successor at the New York Auto Show. The new model called GLE will also be offered as plug-in hybrid, GLE 500 e 4Matic, this summer. The PHEV combines a V6 engine with 333 hp and an 85-kW electric drive. In the U.S., it will go on sale this autumn.
greencarcongress.com, greencarreports.com

New e-mobility index: The latest “E-mobility index” by Roland Berger for Q1 2015 has analyzed the seven major automotive nations’ performance in the electromobility segment in terms of technology, industry, and market. The U.S. remains the lead market, selling some 120,000 PEVs in the past twelve months. The Chinese market has seen the biggest growth, more than doubling its sales last year.
rolandberger.com, fka.de (download form)

BMW i8 in Korea: BMW has launched its plug-in hybrid sports car in Seoul. It is priced at 199.9 million won (181,562 USD) in South Korea, where BMW also erected 200 charging stations last year.
koreabizwire.com

Micro EVs from China: CarNewsChina was at the Shandong EV Expo and found a bunch of small electric vehicles like the Mengde Microcar and the QY5021. Clearly the most quirky is the mini pick up with cargo bay called Zhongqi Xiaomi Cute Pickup Truck. Cute it is, indeed.
Mengde Microcar, Wanda QY5021, Zhongqi Xiaomi Cute Pickup Truck (all on carnewschina.com)