Asbury Automotive Group Announces Secondary Offering of Common Stock

STAMFORD, Conn., Jan. 22, 2004 -- Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. announced today that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed secondary offering of 10,000,000 shares of its common stock. Asbury Automotive Holdings L.L.C., a controlled affiliate of Ripplewood Investments L.L.C., is offering approximately 7.1 million shares, with the remaining shares offered by certain other stockholders of the Company. The Company will receive no proceeds from this offering. Certain selling shareholders have also granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to 1,500,000 additional shares of common stock.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but has not yet become effective. These securities have not been sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

About Asbury Automotive Group

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc., headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, is one of the largest automobile retailers in the U.S., with 2002 revenues of $4.5 billion. Built through a combination of organic growth and a series of strategic acquisitions, Asbury now operates through nine geographically concentrated, individually branded "platforms." These platforms currently operate 99 retail auto stores, encompassing 142 franchises for the sale and servicing of 35 different brands of American, European and Asian automobiles. Asbury believes that its product mix includes a higher proportion of luxury and mid-line import brands than most leading public U.S. automotive retailers. The Company offers customers an extensive range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicle sales and related financing and insurance, vehicle maintenance and repair services, replacement parts and service contracts.