Employees have until Nov. 13 to accept the offer, Chrysler said in a statement. Special programs are also being offered at factories that are being closed as part of the bankruptcy process. The dates for those programs vary. Separation dates are at the discretion of the company.

The buyouts come as Chrysler prepares to reveal its five-year product plan to the public during a press conference at its Auburn Hills, Mich.-based headquarters Wednesday. Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne is expected to address how Chrysler will survive while it attempts to deliver new products to the market.

Chrysler has been cutting thousands of jobs since late 2007 as demand for its Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge products fall amid an economic recession in the U.S.

The concession means consumers who are injured in car accidents after GM emerges from bankruptcy protection will be able to bring product-liability claims against the government-owned auto maker. Under GM's original bankruptcy plan, the auto maker planned to leave such liabilities behind after selling its "good" assets to a new GM owned by the government. That meant future car-accident victims who believe that faulty manufacturing by the old GM caused their injuries would be unable to sue the new GM. Instead, they would have been treated as unsecured creditors, fighting over the remains of GM's old bankruptcy estate.

GM's agreement to take responsibility for future product-liability claims, outlined in a court filing late Friday, represents a partial victory for more than a dozen state attorneys general and several consumer-advocacy groups. They had objected to GM's original plan to shed these liabilities, arguing it would rob future car-accident victims of their legal rights because they would have no way of knowing they might be entitled to claims.

GM advisers, members of President Barack Obama's auto task force and the attorneys general negotiated for several days to address concerns about product-liability claims, among other issues. The talks heated up Friday ahead of GM's Tuesday court date, when it will ask a judge to approve the auto maker's plan to create a new GM by selling its desirable assets to the government.

But it nevertheless attracted many longtime associates, employees, customers, former models and fellow designers, who joined Pierre Berge, the late couturier's companion and business partner of 50 years, to remember Saint Laurent. Designers in attendance included Hubert de Givenchy, who arrived on crutches; Agnes Trouble of agnes b., and Giambattista Valli. Former French culture minister Jack Lang and Ségolène Royal, the former presidential candidate, were the only representatives of the political world to attend. Betty Catroux and Dominique Deroche, Saint Laurent's former communications head, were also on hand.

Just like at the funeral service a year ago, Berge paid a moving tribute to Saint Laurent, recounting his influence on fashion. "He changed the life of women," Berge noted, alluding to the designer's innovations, such as the trouser suit. He also talked about the "unique relationship" he had with Saint Laurent, who died of brain cancer June 1, 2008, at the age of 71. In a touching and intensely personal remembrance, Berge recalled how he met Saint Laurent, then only 21, half a century ago at the time he showed his first collection for Dior, and how the two men combined their destinies into what would become one of fashion's most historic partnerships.

In recent years Americans appeared to be hooked on it and took advantage of home equity loans, easy credit and cheap short-term lease deals to send new-car sales to levels of more than 17 million a year. Now the market has collapsed by 46 percent to below 10 million, as people are making do with the cars they have, leaving the industry to debate — and worry — about what the new normal will be once the recession ends.

Some say the downturn is temporary and that sales will spring back in a few years. Others believe Americans will rethink whether they need so many cars, particularly new ones. The answer will be important to the Obama administration as it prepares to put G.M. into bankruptcy on Monday. After the company emerges from bankruptcy, the federal government will own about 70 percent of it, in return for $50 billion in taxpayer aid. G.M. has already received about $20 billion in federal help.

The Treasury Department’s advisers, who initially expected auto sales to pick up late next year, now foresee no jump in demand this year or in 2010. And even five years out, they expect annual sales to be about 15 million, still well below the peaks of this decade.

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Donald Grimes, an economist at the University of Michigan, is forecasting the lowest sales for the driving-age population this year since 1970. From 1970 to 2001, there were 0.76 vehicles sold per driver in the United States. Now that figure has dropped to 0.4 vehicles per driver, and he does not see much of a rebound in coming years. The swift decline has spooked the industry. "I don't think there has ever been a period in our history like this," Josephine Cooper, Toyota’s group vice president for government and industry affairs, said of her company, which lost $7.1 billion in the first three months of the year. "It is very, very sobering."

"It is with a sense of profound sadness that we must take these steps and reject some of our dealer sales and service contracts," Chrysler said in letters delivered overnight by UPS to the dealerships, "But it is a neccessary step."

The letters began arriving Thursday morning.

Chrysler had a total of 3,181 authorized dealers in operation at the time of its April 30 bankruptcy court filing, according to court filings. Just over half of that number accounted for more than 90% of Chrysler sales, according to the filing.

The dealers being shut down represent 14% of Chrysler's total sales, the carmaker said.

The Treasury has an agreement in principle with the United Automobile Workers union, whose members' pensions and retiree health care benefits would be protected as a condition of the bankruptcy filing, said these people, who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

Moreover, Fiat of Italy would complete its alliance with Chrysler while the company is under bankruptcy protection.

The only major question that remains unresolved is what happens to Chrysler's lenders, who hold $6.9 billion in company debt. The government's most recent offer, presented Wednesday, would give the company’s lenders about 22 cents on the dollar, or $1.5 billion, and a 5 percent equity stake in a reorganized Chrysler. Earlier this week, a steering committee of the lenders proposed that they receive 65 cents on the dollar, or $4.5 billion, and a 40 percent equity stake.

The luxury online retailer will stock a capsule range of pieces from the YSL spring/summer 2009 collection - a kimono jacket, daytime suit and cocktail jumpsuit among them - made exclusively for them in navy and sand colourways.

Among the other stylish treats on offer include limited edition accessories; those cage-heel shoes (for which we're sure there's already a virtual waiting list), and a patent leather paillette-print shoulder bag.

Hermann credited product expansion, particularly in the high-margin leather goods business, for propelling the brand into the black — with tight cost controls playing a supporting role. "We went from a situation where it was mainly ready-to-wear and one bag, to ready-to-wear, bags, shoes and small leather goods," Hermann said in an interview, seated in the meeting room situated between her office and that of creative director Stefano Pilati, her design counterpart in the turnaround effort. "Are we a monoproduct brand? Not any more."

The executive was referring to the Mombasa, a hit bag from the Tom Ford-era YSL that was the couture brand's first real volley into accessories. (Previously, costume jewelry by the late couturier’s muse Loulou de la Falaise was the main statement.) While Ford’s horn-handled shoulder jewel is still available in stores, it’s the Muse, Muse 2, Downtown and Tribute bags that have given YSL further legitimacy, along with influential shoe styles such as the Tribute, a platform sandal.

When Hermann arrived at YSL from Dior, succeeding Mark Lee, leather goods accounted for 31.9 percent of the company's revenues, with rtw at 44.5 percent, shoes at 13.1 percent and other products, including royalties, at 10.5 percent. Last year, leather goods generated 35.9 percent of revenues, with rtw at 30.8 percent, shoes at 16.7 percent and other products at 16.6 percent.

While product expansion, including the Edition 24 line of wardrobe staples, plus evening and unisex capsules, bumped up the top line, Hermann nurtured the bottom line with close attention to open-to-buys, inventory levels, pricing and margins. Healthy sell-through took priority over loading up stores with merchandise. "The best way to improve the results was to increase the turnover, with a good margin," she stressed.