By Chang-Ran Kim, Asia autos correspondent

DETROIT, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) is planning to roll out its pure electric car based on the FT-EV concept in Japan, Europe and the United States by 2012, a top executive said on Monday.

Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, had announced ahead of the concept's debut this week at the Detroit auto show that it would launch an all-electric car for city commuting in the United States but had not mentioned the other regions.

"We think it would be appropriate for congested, short-distance driving in urban areas," Masatami Takimoto, executive vice president of research and development, told a small group of reporters on the sidelines of the Detroit show.

Global automakers are accelerating plans to electrify their cars through gasoline-electric hybrids, plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles to stay competitive as governments around the world tighten emissions and fuel economy standards.

Industry executives are describing the current race to develop the next generation of vehicles as a new era in car-making, which has been dominated by the internal combustion engine invented more than a century ago.

"In a way, we're back to where the industry was 100 years ago, when it was moving away from steam-powered cars and competing with horse-drawn carriages," Takimoto said. "But this time it will be a lot more difficult because we have carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions to worry about." BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

The advent of electric cars has seen new entrants to the industry such as California-based Tesla Motors Inc and BYD Co (1211.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), a Chinese battery maker that has plans to mass-market hybrid and electric cars equipped with its proprietary batteries.

With the industry going back to the drawing board, Takimoto said there was room for newcomers to join the fray but stressed that building a safe, well-rounded car was not that easy.