Asbury Automotive Group Announces Secondary Offering of Common Stock

NEW YORK, Sept. 7 -- Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. announced that it has filed a preliminary prospectus supplement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed secondary offering of 8,000,000 shares of its common stock by Asbury Automotive Holdings L.L.C., an affiliate of Ripplewood Investments L.L.C., and possibly certain other existing shareholders. Asbury Automotive Holdings L.L.C. has also granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to 1,200,000 additional shares of common stock. Shares sold by Asbury Automotive Holdings L.L.C. are being sold for the account of funds affiliated with Ripplewood Investments L.L.C. and Freeman Spogli & Co., Incorporated. The Company will receive no proceeds from the offering.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. will act as sole bookrunner, Deutsche Bank Securities as joint lead-manager and Wachovia Securities and Stephens Inc. as co-managers of the offering. A preliminary prospectus supplement relating to the proposed offering may be obtained by contacting Goldman, Sachs & Co. at 85 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004, Attention: Prospectus Department, via fax at 212-902-9316 or via e-mail at prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com.

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.

About Asbury Automotive Group

Asbury Automotive Group, Inc., headquartered in New York City, is one of the largest automobile retailers in the U.S. Built through a combination of organic growth and a series of strategic acquisitions, the Company currently operates 86 retail auto stores, encompassing 119 franchises for the sale and servicing of 33 different brands of American, European and Asian automobiles. 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.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward- looking statements include statements relating to plans regarding the Company's financial position, results of operations and business strategy. These statements are based on management's current expectations and involve significant risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market factors and general economic conditions. There can be no guarantees the Company's plans will be successfully implemented or that they will prove to be commercially successful. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including investor response to the proposed offering, the trading prices for the Company's common stock during the offering period, other conditions in the financial markets and customary closing conditions.

  Investors May Contact:
  Stacey Yonkus
  Director, Investor Relations
  (212) 885-2512
  investor@asburyauto.com

  Reporters May Contact:
  Tom Pratt
  RFBinder Partners
  (212) 994-7563
  Tom.Pratt@RFBinder.com