Press Release Details

AutoNation to Acquire Borton Volvo and Borton Volkswagen

Aug 24, 2004

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE: AN), America's largest automotive retailer, today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Borton Volvo and Borton Volkswagen from owner Loren Sheffer. The dealerships are located at 2201 and 2401 North Federal Highway in Delray Beach, Florida.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter, after which the dealerships will operate as Maroone Volvo and Maroone Volkswagen. This will bring to 31 the total number of dealerships owned and operated by AutoNation under the Maroone brand, and they will represent the first Volvo and Volkswagen dealerships in the Maroone family of locations.

Terms of the all-cash asset transaction, which is subject to customary conditions and approvals, were not disclosed. AutoNation estimates that the combined annual revenues from the two dealerships will total approximately $63 million.

The dealerships are located on 10 acres in a three-building complex -- including a state-of-the-art Volkswagen facility constructed in 2002 -- in a prime retail location on Federal Highway near the newly relocated Maroone Nissan dealership. Borton Volvo is one of the top ten volume Volvo franchises in the southeastern United States.

"Borton Volvo and Borton Volkswagen will be exciting additions to our family of Maroone dealerships in South Florida," said Michael E. Maroone, AutoNation's president and chief operating officer. "We're extremely proud that these two great brands will be joining our lineup, and these acquisitions show just how committed we are to offering the most satisfying selection of vehicles in the industry. In fact, it's this commitment to customer satisfaction that has driven -- and will continue to drive -- our success here in South Florida and across the country."

All told, Maroone now offers 15 brands of vehicle at locations from Miami to West Palm Beach. Customers can shop for new vehicles from Chevrolet, Chrysler/Jeep, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Isuzu, Kia, Lexus, Lincoln-Mercury, Mercedes, Oldsmobile, Nissan and Toyota. Maroone dealerships also offer used vehicles, parts and service, and finance and insurance products.

About AutoNation, Inc.

AutoNation, Inc., headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is America's largest automotive retailer. Ranked No. 97 on the 2004 Fortune 500 and a component of the Standard and Poor's 500 Index, AutoNation employs approximately 28,000 people and owns and operates 365 new vehicle franchises in 18 states. For additional information, please visit http://corp.AutoNation.com or http://www.AutoNation.com, where more than 100,000 vehicles are available for sale.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements and information included in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Federal Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Additional discussion of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's projections, estimates and expectations is contained in the Company's SEC filings. The Company undertakes no duty to update its forward- looking statements.

SOURCE  AutoNation, Inc.
    -0-                             08/24/2004
    /CONTACT:  Marc Cannon, AutoNation, Inc., +1-954-769-3146, or
cannonm@autonation.com/
    /Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001017/AUTONATIONLOGO
              AP Archive:  http://photoarchive.ap.org
              PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com/
    /Company News On-Call:  http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/750525.html/
    /Web site:  http://corp.autonation.com
                http://corp.AutoNation.com /
    (AN)

CO:  AutoNation, Inc.; Borton Volvo; Borton Volkswagen
ST:  Florida
IN:  AUT
SU:  TNM

DS-KW 
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3137 08/24/2004 16:30 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com