Lithia Motors Acquires Sewell Toyota in Odessa, Texas; Dealership is Lithia's Fifth in Market, Ninth in Texas

MEDFORD, Ore.--July 15, 2004--Lithia Motors, Inc. the country's eighth-largest automotive dealership group, today announced it has acquired Sewell Toyota in Odessa, Texas. This is Lithia's fifth dealership in the Midland/Odessa market. Lithia's other stores; All American Dodge Hyundai of Midland, All American Chevrolet of Midland, All American Chevrolet of Odessa and All American Chrysler Jeep Dodge of Odessa were purchased in 2002.

The acquisition of Sewell Toyota - with sales of approximately $20 million annually - brings Lithia's number of dealerships in the state of Texas to nine. Sewell Toyota will start up operations as Lithia Toyota of Odessa on July 15, 2004.

"This acquisition will continue our growth in what has become a very successful market for us. Odessa has accepted us as an involved community business and we have every intention to continue to serve Odessa in a professional way. In the future we will be moving this store along with our Chevrolet and our Hyundai store in Midland to a new facility which will be built on land we recently acquired in the high growth retail area along the JBS Parkway," said Lithia Chairman and CEO Sid DeBoer.

In Fortune's 2004 annual "Most Admired Companies" survey, Lithia ranked No. 2 among all dealerships in the Automotive Retailing/Services category. Highlighting the great partnerships it has developed in each community, the list ranked Lithia No. 1 in "social responsibility," one of eight criteria used to measure each business against its competition.

About Lithia Motors

Lithia Motors, Inc. is a Fortune 1000 and Russell 2000 Company that sells 24 brands of new vehicles and operates 83 stores and 152 franchises in 12 Western states and over the Internet through "Lithia.com-America's Car & Truck Store." Founded in 1946, Lithia expanded from one dealership to a $2.5 billion industry-leading dealer group by 2003. Lithia became a publicly traded company in 1996 and today pursues an aggressive acquisition strategy, retailing nearly 92,000 new and used vehicles in 2003. 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 or log-on to: Lithia.com - About Lithia - Investor Info