Chrysler will drop the slow-selling Jeep Commander in mid-2009. That’s the word from insiders who asked not to be named because the decision has not been officially announced. The cancellation is blamed on high gas prices and changing consumer buying patterns which have significantly reduced demand for large SUVs.

Introduced in 2005, Commander sales hit a peak of 88,497 in 2006, its first full year on the market, but dropped to 63,027 units last year. At the pace set in the first quarter of 2008, annual sales are forecast to be about 36,000 units.