Lithia Motors, Inc. Climbs 146 Places on the Fortune 1000 List of America's Largest Companies

MEDFORD, Ore., June 13 -- Lithia Motors, Inc. announced today that it has again been included in the Fortune 1000 List, which highlights the largest companies in the United States for the year 2002. This is Lithia's fourth year on the list with a ranking of 590, up 146 places from last year's position.

Lithia is included in the "Automotive Retailing and Services" industry. According to Fortune's ranking of 70 industries, automotive retailing ranked 2nd in five-year profit growth at 49.8%, 11th in one-year profit growth at 36.7%, and 7th in one-year revenue growth at 11.2%.

Sidney B. DeBoer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lithia Motors, Inc. stated, "We are very pleased to have continued our steady climb within the Fortune 1000 listing. Next year we hope to make the "Fortune 500" list of the nation's largest companies, which should help in giving Lithia even more visibility to Wall Street and the public. This last year marks our biggest jump in the rankings, as we were able to grow revenues by 27% in an economy that was difficult for most companies. Since the IPO in 1996, Lithia has experienced compound annual growth rates in revenues of 60% per year, net profits of 52% per year and EPS of 23% per year. It is worth noting that the automotive retail sector has outperformed the specialty retail sector for the third year in a row in revenue growth. In addition, the automotive retailing sector has a five-year profit growth of more than three times that of the specialty retail sector, however, automotive retailers trade at a substantial discount to specialty retailers in the market."

Lithia Motors, Inc. is a Fortune 1000 and Russell 2000 Company that sells 24 brands of new vehicles and operates 75 stores and 140 franchises in 12 states in the Western United States and over the Internet through "Lithia.com-America's Car & Truck Store." Lithia also sells used vehicles; arranges finance, warranty, and credit insurance contracts; and provides vehicle parts, maintenance, and repair services at all of its locations. Lithia retailed 91,478 new and used vehicles and had $2.38 billion in total revenue in 2002.