Lithia Motors Tops List for the Publicly Traded Automotive Retailers

    MEDFORD, Ore., March 20 In the Fortune Magazine list of
America's Most Admired Companies, within the automotive retailing services
industry group, Lithia Motors ranked #1 for the publicly traded
automotive retailers, and second overall in a group that includes some car
rental companies.

    Fortune's list of America's Most Admired Companies, included in the
March 5, 2001 issue, is the definitive report card on corporate reputations.
The winners are chosen from the 1,000 largest U.S. companies (ranked by
revenues).  The companies are sorted by industry groups with the 10 largest in
each industry selected for the list.  To create the rankings, a private firm
was retained to ask executives, directors, and analysts to rank companies in
their own industry on eight criteria, ranging from long-term investment value
to social responsibility.  The results, backed by 19 years of experience, are
an industry-by-industry guide to corporate America's shiniest reputations.

    Lithia Motors Chairman and CEO Sid DeBoer stated, "Lithia is dedicated to
a strategy that focuses on customers, employees and shareholders.  With a
revenue-run rate of $1.7 billion, we are now eleven times the size of when we
went public at the end of 1996.  Lithia has experienced average annual growth
rates of 89% in revenues, 79%% in net profits, and 37% in earnings per share
over this same four-year period.  We have been able to achieve these results
by continually providing a superior customer experience, opportunity and
support for our team members, and added value and growth for our
shareholders."

    "We are very proud to have been voted to the top position among our peers,
because all the companies in the automotive retailing sector are run by strong
management teams.  The automotive retailing sector is starting to gain greater
recognition as it demonstrates continued profitability and performance within
a slowing economic environment.  Year-to-date, the sector has experienced
stock price appreciation of more than 30%.  In contrast, for the same period,
the Dow and NASDAQ are down approximately 7% and 20% respectively."