Lithia Motors Earnings Release and Conference Call Information For the Full-Year and Fourth Quarter 2002

    MEDFORD, Ore., Feb. 17 -- Lithia Motors, Inc.
today announced that its fourth quarter and year-end 2002 earnings
will be released on Wednesday, February 26th at 5 a.m., Pacific Time.

    CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION
    A conference call to discuss the results will be held on the same day at
11 a.m. PT, 12 p.m. MT, 1 p.m. CT and 2 p.m. ET.

    HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

          DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL CALLS: 973-582-2700

    Please call in at least 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call.

          To listen LIVE on our website or for REPLAY: Log-on to
          http://www.Lithia.com -- Go to Investor Relations -- and click on the
          Conference Call Icon.

    A playback of the conference call will be available on February 26th,
after 1:00 p.m., Pacific Time, through March 5, 2003.  The playback can be
accessed by calling 973-341-3080 (access code: 3687233) or by visiting the
Investor Relations section of the Lithia Motors website; http://www.Lithia.com.

    Lithia Motors, Inc. is a Fortune 1000 and Russell 2000 Company that sells
24 brands of new vehicles and operates 71 stores and 132 franchises in 10
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.

    For additional information on Lithia Motors, contact: Jeff DeBoer, Senior
VP and Chief Financial Officer 541-776-6868 (E-mail: invest@lithia.com) or Dan
Retzlaff, Director Investor Relations at 541-776-6819 (dretzlaff@lithia.com)
or log-on to: http://www.lithia.com -- go to About Lithia -- Investor Relations