Fiat and Hyundai Motor Co added to the gloom surroundingautomakers on Thursday with bleak forecasts for next year as theglobal financial crisis takes its toll.Italian industrial group Fiat said global demand for itsproducts could drop 10 to 20 percent in a 'worst-case' scenario,while a senior official at Hyundai, South Korea's top automaker, said he expects car demand in emerging countries to fallnext year.



Germany's Daimler, maker of Mercedes-Benz luxurycars and heavy trucks, is due to publish its quarterly resultsat about 1000 GMT and is widely expected to issue its secondstraight profit warning.



Global automakers are facing shrinking demand as consumersput off major purchases on fears of a recession.



At 0732 GMT, the DJ Stoxx European auto index wasdown 2 percent, while the wider market was little changed. Fiatshares were suspended after a sharp fall.



Fiat said its trading profit could plunge by 65 percent nextyear. Although the maker of cars, trucks and tractors called itsforecast a 'worst case' scenario but analysts saw it asdefinitive. 'In any case, it will be seen as a profit warning,'one analyst said.



Fiat released better-than-expected third-quarter earnings,boosted by strong sales at its farm machinery business. Tradingprofit rose nearly 8 percent to 802 million euros, beatingmarket expectations.