Sonic Automotive Announces the Promotion of Rachel M. Richards to Vice President of Retail Strategy and Process Management

CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sonic Automotive, Inc. , a leader in automotive retailing, announced today that Ms. Rachel M. Richards is promoted to Vice President of Retail Strategy and Process Management. In her new role, Ms. Richards will be responsible for Sonic's national advertising, marketing, customer relationship management, traffic management, asset inventory management, corporate planning and national training organization.

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Ms. Richards joined Sonic in July 2006 as Director of Enterprise Strategy and Project Management. Over the last nine months, she has brought project management discipline and process standardization to Sonic and led the re- definition of Sonic's retail strategy. Ms. Richards was the driving force behind the development and implementation of the business requirements and standardized business processes for the national roll-out of the dealer management system.

Ms. Richards has more than 20 years in the retail automotive industry holding various field and corporate management positions with Ford Motor Company in sales, marketing, customer relationship management, process management, financial services, consumer affairs, risk management, product development, and parts and service.

Commenting on Rachel's promotion, Mr. Scott Smith, the Company's President said, "We are thrilled to have Ms. Richards at Sonic. She already has made a meaningful impact on our retail strategy and has begun institutionalization of project management and process disciplines within Sonic. We are fortunate to have someone of Rachel's diverse experience, professional management, and strong leadership capabilities on our senior leadership team. We look forward to Rachel adding exceptional value to Sonic's business going forward."

About Sonic Automotive

Sonic Automotive, Inc., a Fortune 300 company based in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the largest automotive retailers in the United States operating 173 franchises and 37 collision repair centers. Sonic can be reached on the Web at http://www.sonicautomotive.com/.