By Anna Willard (Adds SKF details, French minister comments, India/China data)
PARIS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Industrial output sank in several European economies in October, hit hard by the slowing economy and falling sales which forced factories to scale back production in the car industry and other hard-hit sectors.
Analysts said November and December would be even worse and several said they would be scaling back their already-negative outlooks for fourth quarter gross domestic product.
Output in France, Italy, Sweden and Greece all fell in October, data on Wednesday showed, with governments around the world racing to implement measures to resist the downturn.
"Industrial output in the euro zone has fallen into a very deep recession, suggesting that GDP in Q4 could contract even more sharply in Italy, France and Germany than is currently assumed," said Holger Schmieding, a Bank of America economist.
French output, which accounts for a fifth of GDP, plummeted 7.2 percent on an annual basis, its largest drop on record. It sank 2.7 percent month-on-month, far worse than economists' forecasts for a decline of just 0.6 percent.
Auto production was worst hit, diving 14.3 percent, the sharpest drop since August 1999.
"We are seeing the car sector cutting back very aggressively on production plans," said RBS economist Jacques Cailloux.
"This is one of the casualties of the financial crisis. It is a response to rising inventories, financing pressures and falling demand."
It was a similar story in Italy where output was down 1.2 percent compared to a forecast for a drop of 0.8 percent. Production of cars and other vehicles fell 5.8 percent.
Output in Greece dropped 4.5 percent, hurt by lower production of consumer goods, while in Sweden, order books shrank 14.9 percent year-on-year and production fell 7.1 percent -- the worst reading since November 1992.
"These were really bad production figures," said Torbjorn Isaksson, economist at Nordea.
"Order bookings were very weak too, and that is not a good sign looking forward. The vehicles industry is in a particularly bad shape and at the same time it is a worryingly broad decline. It is a really bad start for GDP for the fourth quarter."
Highlighting the worsening condition of Swedish industry,
SKF
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Governments around the world have scrambled to put together stimulus packages to help their flailing economies through the slowdown and financial crisis.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week announced 26 billion euros ($33.76 billion) of measures to support investment and help struggling sectors such as the car industry which accounts for 2.5 million jobs in France.
Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday the sharp fall in manufacturing output in October underscored the necessity of the country's economic stimulus package.
In the United States the House of Representatives could vote as early as Wednesday on a $15 billion plan to bail out and restructure U.S. automakers. [ID:nN09294627]
Germany's plan included raising funding for building work, speeding up and boosting investment in transport and introducing tax breaks on new cars.
Car makers and prominent politicians within Chancellor Angela Merkel's own conservative camp have lobbied for the government to do more, but she has rejected blanket measures.
German industry output also fell a larger-than-expected 2.1 percent in October, according to data released on Monday.
Carmakers across the continent have announced major cuts to production due to falling demand and many factories will close for long periods over the Christmas holidays to prevent stocks building any further.
French car sales dropped 14 percent last month, while Germany posted an 18 percent decline, leaving the industry on track for its worst year there since reunification in 1990.
More data released Wednesday gave little hope the auto sector could be supported by demand from outside Europe, with car sales in India posting their worst fall in eight years, and Chinese imports tumbling by almost 18 percent. [ID:nPEK31604]
(Additional reporting by Adam Cox in Stockholm, Noah Barkin in Berlin and Gavin Jones in Rome; Editing by Toby Chopra)