By Nqobile Dludla

GQEBERHA, South Africa (Reuters) -The South African arm of Ford Motor has attributed the planned retrenchments to lower European orders for its Ranger pickup truck, driven by recent tax changes in the UK and sluggish export volumes for its plug-in hybrid Ranger model.

Last month Ford sent an official notice to unions, notifying them of its intention to retrench 474 workers at its Silverton car manufacturing plant in Pretoria and Struandale engine plant in Gqeberha.

Ford exclusively produces the plug-in hybrid Ranger for global exports, mainly Europe. It also produces the internal combustion engine Ranger for the local and export markets.

Neale Hill, President of Ford Motor Company Africa, told Reuters on the sidelines of an auto conference on Wednesday that the compan

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