Capital Automotive Named One of the Best Performing Companies in the Standard & Poor's SmallCap 600 Index

MCLEAN, Va., June 3 -- Capital Automotive REIT , the nation's leading specialty finance company for automotive retail real estate today announced that it was named the 20th best-performing company in BusinessWeek's "Small-Cap 50," which are the best-performing companies in the Standard & Poor's SmallCap 600 index, as published in the Spring 2003 Business Week Special Annual Issue. The ranking is based on equally weighting each company's one-year and three-year total returns as of February 14, 2003. As of this date, Capital Automotive's one-year total return was 24.6% and its three-year total return was 175.3%.

Commenting on today's news, Thomas D. Eckert, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "This recognition from Business Week further validates the strength of our business model. We have built solid cash flows with conservative underwriting, modest leverage and prudent capital management."

About Capital Automotive

Capital Automotive, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, is a self- administered, self-managed real estate investment trust that acquires real property and improvements used by operators of multi-site, multi-franchised automotive dealerships and related businesses. Additional information on Capital Automotive is available on the Company's Web site at http://www.capitalautomotive.com/.

  Contact Information:

   David S. Kay
   Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
   Capital Automotive REIT
   703-394-1302