Hometown Announces Withdrawal of Motion for Reinstatement of Officers

    WATERTOWN, Conn.--June 26, 2001--Hometown Auto Retailers (OTCBB:HCAR) today announced that Salvatore, Edward and Janet Vergopia have withdrawn their application to the Superior Court of New Jersey for the reinstatement of Salvatore Vergopia as chairman and chief executive officer of Hometown, and president of its Westwood Lincoln Mercury subsidiary, and Edward Vergopia as vice president of fleet operations and a senior officer at Westwood.
    In January 2001, Hometown dismissed Salvatore and Edward Vergopia from their executive positions and terminated their employment contracts, for cause, and replaced Salvatore as president and general manager of Westwood Lincoln-Mercury. In return for the withdrawal of the application, Salvatore and Edward Vergopia were included on an expanded slate of eight directors submitted to stockholders at Hometown's 2001 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, and were re-elected as directors by vote of the Class B Stockholders.
    "We believe that the withdrawal of the Vergopia's application for reinstatement allows Hometown to continue the revitalization of its Westwood operations and to restore that subsidiary to profitable operations," said Corey Shaker, president and chief executive officer of Hometown. "Under the new leadership that we installed at Westwood at the beginning of 2001, Westwood became profitable in the first quarter, and we expect further improved results during the rest of this year."