Group 1 Automotive Assessing Hurricane Damage to Beaumont, Texas, Dealerships; Company's Houston- and New Orleans-area Dealerships Not Impacted by Hurricane Rita

The company also reported that its Houston-area and NewOrleans-area dealerships were not impacted by the storm. The company'snine Houston-area dealerships have resumed normal operations, whilefour of its six dealerships in the New Orleans area continue tooperate after being temporarily closed following Hurricane Katrina.

The company has established a hotline (888-208-7502) tocommunicate with its 205 Beaumont-area employees and assist them asneeded with temporary housing, food, clothing and other necessities.The company also indicated that relief funds raised for its employeesaffected by Hurricane Katrina will be made available to those impactedby Hurricane Rita.

Preliminary damage assessments at the two Beaumont dealershipsindicate no flooding and only minor-to-moderate damage. Althoughutility services have been interrupted and many residents have yet toreturn to the area, the company is working to resume operations asquickly as possible.

The two Beaumont dealerships, located approximately 18 milesnorthwest of Port Arthur where Hurricane Rita made landfall, arecomposed of 11 franchises, including BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chrysler,Dodge, GMC, Honda, Jeep, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Pontiac. On acombined basis, the two dealerships represented 2.4 percent of Group1's total new vehicle unit sales during the first six months of 2005.

About Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

Group 1 owns 95 automotive dealerships comprised of 143franchises, 33 brands and 31 collision service centers located inCalifornia, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, NewHampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma and Texas.Through its dealerships and Internet sites, the company sells new andused cars and light trucks; arranges related financing, vehicleservice and insurance contracts; provides maintenance and repairservices; and sells replacement parts.

Group 1 Automotive can be reached on the Internet atwww.group1auto.com.