REFILE-WRAPUP 1-Automakers fear bleak 2009 as demand plunges

* Fiat says 2009 profit could fall as much as 65 percent * Hyundai Q3 net profit falls 38 pct on weaker sales * Daimler due to report around 1000 GMT * European auto shares down 2 pct; Fiat shares suspended (Fixes story link in paragraph 4)

By Gilles Castonguay and Christiaan Hetzner

MILAN/FRANKFURT, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Fiat (FIA.MI) and Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) added to the gloom surrounding automakers on Thursday with bleak forecasts for next year as the global financial crisis takes its toll. Italian industrial group Fiat said global demand for its products could drop 10 to 20 percent in a "worst-case" scenario, while a senior official at Hyundai, South Korea's top auto maker, said he expects car demand in emerging countries to fall next year. [nN22405189]

Germany's Daimler (DAIGn.DE), maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars and heavy trucks, is due to publish its quarterly results at about 1000 GMT and is widely expected to issue its second straight profit warning.

Global automakers are facing shrinking demand as consumers put off major purchases on fears of a recession. [ID:nN09305152]

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

Fiat said its trading profit could plunge by 65 percent next year. Although the maker of cars, trucks and tractors called its forecast a "worst case" scenario but analysts saw it as definitive. "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. Trading profit rose nearly 8 percent to 802 million euros, beating market expectations.

Hyundai posted a 38 percent fall in third-quarter net profit, also beating market expectations and lifting is shares, but its outlook was gloomy too.

"The market situation in emerging countries is much worse than expected," Park Dong-wook, a director at Hyundai's treasury division, told reporters. Hyundai is the world's No.5 auto maker along with affiliate Kia Motors Corp (000270.KS).

Sales of higher-end models are also slowing in Hyundai's domestic market, analysts said.

"The stock is rebounding on heavy foreign buying but it is hard to say the outlook for auto makers is improving," said Kim Joong-Hyun, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities.

"There could be some pick-up in sales in the fourth quarter as Hyundai makes up lost output during strikes, but that alone doesn't support optimism amid the sinking world economy."

(Writing by Erica Billingham; Editing by Andrew Callus)