Chrysler LLC announced today that it will cut between 8,500 and 10,000 hourly jobs by the end of 2008 and remove four models from its stable of vehicles.

In addition 1,000 salaried positions will be terminated along with 37 percent of the company's contract workers. Both salaried and hourly overtime are also being eliminated.

The hourly workforce changes will effect approximately 17.5 percent of Chrysler's 57,000 workers who are union members in the United States and Canada.

Shifts will be dropped at plants in Illinois, Ohio, Ontario and Michigan. The vehicle models to be cut include the Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible, Dodge, Magnum, Chrysler Crossfire convertible, and Chrysler Pacifica Challenger coupe.

At the same time, some products will be added, including the Dodge Challenger coupe, Dodge Journey crossover, and two hybrid SUVs, the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen.

The job and model cuts are part of the company's restructuring under the ownership of Cerberus Capital Management LP.

In a statement regarding the changes, Bob Nardelli, Chrysler CEO said, "The market situation has changed dramatically in the eight months since Chrysler established the Recovery and Transformation Plan as its blueprint. Annual industry volume (U.S. market) then was running at a 17.2 million clip. Now we expect a seasonally adjusted annual volume for 2007 to be significantly lower and carry over into 2008."