Volkswagen AG and its Chinese partners will jointly invest nearly $12 billion by 2025 in developing electric cars for the local market, VW’s China chief executive said. That will enable the German auto group – which operates in China through joint ventures with the state-run SAIC Motor and FAW Group – to release five electric-car models in China annually until 2025, or around 40 in all, Jochem Heizmann told reporters Thursday. Some auto makers, both foreign and domestic, are scrambling to meet a Chinese government requirement that electric vehicles account for roughly 3% to 4% of their total output in 2019, but Heizmann said that won’t be a problem for VW. With plans in place to have produced 400,000 EVs by 2020, its tougher target in its biggest market are stringent fuel-efficiency standards being introduced alongside the electric-vehicle mandate, The Wall Street Journal reports. VW will also begin producing electric SUVs next year in a third joint venture with JAC Motors.