Proton Holdings Bhd will recall almost 100,000 units of its Exora, Preve and Suprima models to fix the CFE oil cooler hoses starting today.

Its chief executive officer, Abdul Harith Abdullah, said these models had faced problems of the oil cooler hoses, which would break down when the cars reached an average mileage of 40,000km, due to the degradation of the internal hose/tube material.

"We will call the owners and priority will be given to the cars with mileage of 40,000km and above. We hope to finish this in the next six months," he told reporters at the preview of the new Proton Perdana in Shah Alam today.

Also present was Proton chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Meanwhile, Harith said the new Perdana, which was open for booking, was expected to be launched in the first quarter of this year at between RM100,000 and RM150,000.

Riding on the existing platform, he said, the development cost for the model was quite low, at about RM200 million.

He said the new model was expected to help the national carmaker achieve its 2016 sales target of between 100,000 and 150,000 units.

"With the new Perdana coming into the market, along with other models in the pipeline (to be launched this year), we believe we could achieve our sales target this year," he said.

– Bernama