Although much focus has been placed on the automotive job losses in the U.S. and Canada, our neighbors to the South haven’t emerged from the recent market downturn unscathed. General Motors announced last month that is was slashing 600 Mexican jobs and Chrysler announced on Monday that it will be following suit.

According to Automotive News, Chrysler will be cutting 300 of its 1,700 hourly positions at its truck plant in Saltillo, Mexico, effective September 12th. The Saltillo plant produces the Dodge Ram, mainly for export to the U.S. and Canada.

Just last month, GM announced that it was cutting the 600 jobs from its 5,000 employee strong workforce at its industrial complex in Silao, Mexico. The Silao plant produces some of GM’s GMT-900-based vehicles, as well as engines and transmissions.

Both Chrysler and GM attribute the job cuts directly to the slumping U.S. market.

Although the outlook is bleak for the now jobless 900 Mexican workers, all hope is not lost. Chrysler will need to higher about 485 workers when production of its new range of Phoenix engines fires up next year in Saltillo, and Freightliner is also expected to have a new plant up and running in Mexico by 2009, according to Automotive News.

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