Lithia Motors Donates $100,000 to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief

Business Wire, Sept 3, 2005

MEDFORD, Ore. -- Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD). Sid DeBoer Chairman/CEO and Dick Heimann President/COO of Lithia Motors announced today that the company would be giving $100,000 to the American Red Cross for its Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Efforts. While we have no operations or employees that were directly affected by the hurricane, we believe it is important to help others in times of need. The donations will be made through Lithia's stores, in each community where it does business, to the local American Red Cross Chapter. The size of the donation in each community will be tied to the number of employees at Lithia's stores in that community.

Earlier today, Mr. DeBoer made a donation to the Medford Rogue Rotary Foundation of over $13,600 on behalf of Lithia Support Services and the companies Southern Oregon stores. Medford's Rogue Rotary Foundation will donate the funds to the local American Red Cross Chapter.

Sid DeBoer, Lithia's Chairman and CEO commented, "We are pleased to be able to do what we can to help those that have been affected by the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. Not only is Lithia donating to the American Red Cross, but we are also urging our employees to donate what they can as well."

The DaimlerChrysler Corporation has also made a major commitment to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. As a part of that, the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund has approved a disaster relief grant of $500,000, which includes a provision to match gifts from their employees as well as Chrysler Group dealers and their employees. This match will expand Lithia's donations.

"Lithia has always been dedicated to donating in the local communities where we do business, but there are times when we need to do even more. We donated $100,000 to relief organizations supporting the efforts to rebuild in the aftermath of 9/11 and earlier this year we contributed $50,000 to help with the tsunami devastation in South East Asia," concluded Sid DeBoer.

About Lithia

Lithia Motors, Inc. is a Fortune 1000 and Russell 2000 Company that sells 25 brands of new vehicles and operates 90 stores and 179 franchises in 12 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. Lithia retailed 98,331 new and used vehicles and had $2.7 billion in total revenue in 2004.

Additional Information

For additional information on Lithia Motors, contact the Investor Relations Department: 541-776-6591 or log-on to: www.lithia.com - go to Investor Relations