Chrysler LLC has announced that it will be laying off around 250 salaried employees at the end of this month in an attempt to cut costs after incurring losses for successive quarters.

On Thursday night Chrysler spokesperson revealed that the first stage of job cuts will affects 250 workers and is expected to begin from Friday. This is part of the company’s overall plan to cut around 1000 white collar jobs in total in order to bring about sweeping cost cutting measures. In an effort to get employees to leave voluntarily, Chrysler has been offering buyouts and early retirement packages but has been able to meet only three-fourths of its restructuring goals.

The job cuts come in the wake of continuing losses incurred by Chrysler due to falling sales of its vehicles which plunged as much as by 24 percent in the first eight months of this year. This forms part of a nation-wide decline in demand for autos as spiralling gasoline costs and an overall price rise have limited the spending power of consumers. They are thus turning more towards hybrid and fuel efficient vehicles and away from trucks and sports utility vehicles which dominate Chrysler’s line-up.