Chrysler LLC, owners of the Chrysler and Dodge brands, announced they will be dropping several models from its range in order to scale down their spiraling losses.  These include the Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible and Chrysler Crossfire.

Chrysler reduction of the range will allow Chrysler group to cut nearly 13,000 jobs including over 1,000 management personnel.  These cuts are in addition to the 13,000 North American redundancies announced back in February 2007.

Sales for both PT Cruiser variants were down by 27% in September despite the model being Chrysler’s third best selling.  The convertible is one of the most labour intensive of these variants and has never sold well in comparison to it’s hard topped siblings.

The Crossfire is based on a Mercedes platform which is now showing it’s age. Since Mercedes sold an 80% share in the group to private-equity firm Cerberus Capital, there has been a question mark over the future of this car which will now not be replaced.

Chrysler LLC, which employs over 130,000 people worldwide, has essentially announced that they are taking steps to eliminate almost 20% of its workforce by the end of 2008 in effort to more effectively compete with Japanese brands. In 2006 the company announced that Chrysler’s full-year loss was $1.48 billion.