US car giant Chrysler has announced plans to cut at least 10,000 jobs, months after it was bought by a leading private equity firm.
Up to 10,000 hourly jobs will be cut next year while at least 1,000 salaried positions are also expected to be lost.
The layoffs come on top of 13,000 jobs that Chrysler - bought by Cerberus in August - is already shedding.
Chrysler said market conditions had worsened since the buyout and it needed to reduce costs more aggressively.
'Smaller market'
The firm is scrapping all overtime for hourly and salaried workers while the number of contract workers will be reduced by more than a third.
Chrysler said it expected sales this year to be "significantly lower" than previously thought and that this slump would continue in 2008.
"We have to move now to adjust the way our company looks and acts"
Like its counterparts GM and Ford, Chrysler has struggled to adapt to changing buying trends in the US and found itself outmanoeuvred by Japanese rivals Toyota and Nissan.
The latest overhaul of the Chrysler business will see it end certain shift patterns at five plants in the US and Canada.
In addition, four models will be discontinued.
"We have to move now to adjust the way our company looks and acts to reflect a smaller market," said Tom LaSorda, the firm's vice-chairman.
"That means a cost base that is right-sized and appropriate level of plant utilisation."
Cerberus bought a 80% stake in Chrysler from its German parent firm DaimlerChrysler.
News of the job cuts comes less than a week after unions voted to support a four-year pay deal for workers at the company.
The deal was agreed after a tortuous set of negotiations which led to brief walkouts by staff at 19 of Chrysler's 24 US plants.
The deal, affecting 45,000 active workers at Chrysler and more than 55,000 retired staff, included proposed reforms to pension entitlements and healthcare benefits.
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