Mercedes-Benz acquisition

Inchcape PLC
07 April 2005

7 April 2005

                Inchcape expands its UK Mercedes-Benz interests

Inchcape plc (Inchcape), the international automotive services group, today
announces the acquisition of the Robert Smith Group Limited, and its
subsidiaries, which consists of six Mercedes-Benz dealerships and one smart
dealership. Inchcape now has a UK representation of fourteen Mercedes-Benz
dealerships including the largest contiguous territory for Mercedes-Benz and
smart in the UK.

The acquisition, on 6 April 2005, adds Mercedes-Benz dealerships in: Liverpool,
Warrington, Chester, Southport, West Kirby and Llandudno to Inchcape's
portfolio. The new smart dealership is located in Liverpool. Together, these
sites generated new car sales of some 2,100 units and used car sales of 1,100
units in 2004.

The total cash consideration paid for the business will be c. £18.1m, subject to
finalisation of completion accounts, and includes around £7.2m in respect of
goodwill.

These new dealerships create a further scale market area for Inchcape. The
largest single contiguous territory in the UK for Mercedes-Benz was created in
2004 when Inchcape acquired dealerships in Nottingham, Leicester, Derby,
Mansfield and Loughborough adding to its original market area of Coventry,
Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford.

Peter Johnson, Group Chief Executive of Inchcape, commented:

'This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to build upon our relationship
with Mercedes-Benz, and leaves us well placed to continue delivering on our UK
growth strategy of representing between 5.0% to 10.0% of our chosen partners'
national sales volumes.

'Inchcape's success in building scale contiguous territories should result in
enhanced returns for our shareholders whilst, importantly, improving our service
levels to our customers.'


Notes to editors

For further information, please contact:

Group Communications, Inchcape plc
020 7546 0022

Hogarth Partnership Limited (John Olsen/Barnaby Fry)
020 7357 9477

Inchcape, an international automotive services group, provides quality
representation for its manufacturer partners, a choice of channels to market and
products for its retail customers and a range of business services for its
corporate customers. Operations are focused on the UK, Greece, Belgium,
Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Inchcape's activities include exclusive
Import, Distribution and Retail, Business Services, automotive E-commerce and
Financial Services. Our key manufacturer partners are Toyota/Lexus, Subaru, BMW,
the Premier Automotive Group of Ford, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.

For further information, visit us at www.inchcape.com



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