Missouri registered more vehicle sales — both new and used — in the first half of 2026 than it did a year earlier, while the national market was slightly down through June.
Analyzing registration data, two auto-industry research firms, Mobility Global and Cox Automotive, found sales in Missouri are growing faster than almost every other market in the country.
In the first half of 2026, new-vehicle registrations rose 3.55% in Missouri compared with the same period in 2025, while used-vehicle registrations rose at an almost identical rate of 3.56%, according to Mobility Global. The figures cover light vehicles — cars, SUVs and light trucks — and exclude motorcycles and heavy trucks.
Speaking on behalf of its research team, Mark Schirmer, director for corporate communications at Cox Automotive, attributed the increased sales to fleet and commercial buying, not everyday car shoppers.
“Our look at Missouri suggests that while sales numbers in the first half for new vehicles are higher, a lot of that trend, or what’s driving that trend of higher sales, is mostly on the commercial vehicle side,” he said.
Tom Libby, director for loyalty solutions and industry analysis at Mobility Global, also offered a similar explanation. He said a single large order from the police department, the fire department or a rental company can move a whole state’s numbers in one month.
On the used-vehicle side, they both pointed to affordability as the likely explanation, though more cautiously.
“It might suggest that consumers are choosing used vehicles over new vehicles, again searching for better value or lower prices,” Schirmer said.
How Missouri performs in vehicle sales
According to Mobility Global, new-vehicle registrations started the year lower by 6.6% than a year earlier, and it kept declining by 8.6% in February, 8.8% in March, and 6.2% in April. It entered the green territory in May, when registrations rose by 12.3% to 28,298, and then jumped again by a staggering 44.6% in June.
For used-vehicle registrations, January came in negative by 12.8% than the same time a year ago. But every month after that showed gains, as registrations rose by 5.6% in February, 2.8% in March, 0.4% in April, 17% in May and 9.7% in June.
Cox Automotive’s research team also found the same registration figures. In an analysis of vehicle registration data, the team found that Missouri's total vehicle registrations — new and used combined — rose 3.6% year over year in the first half of 2026, compared with a 1.2% decline nationally.
Alongside registration numbers, the Missouri Department of Revenue keeps its own record from monthly sales reports that dealers are required by law to file. Its monthly sales figures, however, show new vehicles consistently outselling used ones in the first half of 2026.
According to the DOR, new-vehicle sales rose year over year in five out of the six months of the first half of 2026. They went up 6.5% in January, 23.7% in February, down 1.8% in March, then up 1.6% in April, 5.1% in May and 14.4% in June.
Used-vehicle sales grew more modestly, as they went up 2.7% in January, 11.1% in February, 1.6% in March, 1.7% in April, but went down 1.6% in May and before going up again by 1.2% in June.
In total, new-vehicle sales in the year’s first half rose 7.68%, more than double the 2.71% growth in used-vehicle sales. A separate DOR report that listed sales from each of Missouri's 661 individual franchised dealers presented the same pattern — 224,166 new vehicles were sold in 2026 so far, versus 174,683 used.
The DOR sales scenario is far different from what the auto research firms’ registration data show. One likely reason, as both Schirmer and Libby explained, is that a lot of used-vehicle sales happen directly between private individuals, and those sales do not always show up the same way in dealer-reported sales figures, even though they do get counted once the buyer registers the vehicle.
The DOR did not respond in time for publication to a request to clarify exactly what its monthly figures measure.
Sales concentrated in a few counties
There is a geographic pattern behind Missouri's fleet spike.
“Fleet, or commercial, sales in Jackson County were very strong in the first half, pulling the totals higher,” Schirmer said, referring to the county that includes Kansas City.
He said this kind of concentration is not unusual, as companies making large bulk vehicle purchases may title a large fleet purchase in one county. It shows up as sales in that market.
“Rental companies in particular buy a lot of vehicles and often title them all in one place, pending business strategy,” he said.
The DOR report supports this pattern. According to the report, Jackson County's 59 franchised dealers — just 9% of the state’s 661 — accounted for 34.7% of new-vehicle sales in Missouri.
The county’s used-vehicle sales, by contrast, were far more proportionate to its dealer count — 25,068 units, or 14.4% of the state total. It suggests that the anomaly is concentrated in new-vehicle fleet purchases, rather than in the broader consumer market.
No other Missouri county comes close to that level of concentration. Among others, St. Louis County has 67 franchised dealers and accounted for 19,422 new-vehicle sales, or 8.7% of the statewide total. Also, Clay County, Greene County and Boone County registered significant sales.
How Missouri stacks up to other states
According to Mobility Global data, Missouri ranks 13th among states in new-vehicle registrations and 17th in used-vehicle registrations, well behind California, Texas, Florida and New York.
Among the 10 largest new-vehicle markets, most states witnessed registrations fall in the first half of 2026. California was down by 6.1%, New York 4.3%, Georgia 4%, Pennsylvania down 2.5%, and Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Texas each down by smaller amounts, roughly 1% apiece.
Oklahoma is the only outlier as it posted a 15.97% growth for the half, and 43.8% for June alone, compared with a year earlier. Altogether, these 10 states combined saw new-vehicle registrations fall 1.75% over the same period.
Missouri stands out against this backdrop. Its 3.55% growth in new-vehicle registrations for the first half of 2026 outpaced every state in the top 10 except Oklahoma, and its 44.6% June spike was the single largest month-over-month jump of any state in the group. The pattern repeats in used vehicles, as Missouri posted a 3.56% growth in the first half against a 1.03% national decline.
The used-vehicle market among the 10 states was more mixed. Illinois was down 16.8%, Georgia 4.7%, Florida 3.9%, New York 2.4%, Texas 1.2%, Pennsylvania 1.1% and North Carolina 1%. However, California saw registrations up 1.5%, Michigan 2.2% and Ohio up 2.8%.
Possible driving factors behind sales figures
The sales picture changes considerably when retail registrations are separated from the total. According to Cox Automotive, new-vehicle registrations at retail in Missouri were actually down 0.7% year over year in the first half of 2026, against a national retail drop of 3.8%.
Once fleet and commercial purchases are folded back into the total, the state’s new-vehicle numbers turn positive at 3.6% growth, against a 1.7% national decline.
“It appears that new-vehicle sales at retail are down in 2026, but down less than the overall market,” Schirmer said. “Used-vehicle sales at retail in Missouri are up slightly. Nationally, used vehicles at retail are down 2.7%, so Missouri is doing better than the nation in used car sales."
The one part of Missouri's story that is genuinely consumer-driven is used vehicles. Retail used-vehicle sales — through franchised and independent dealers — rose 1.4% year over year in Missouri in the first half of 2026, while the national figure fell 2.7% over the same period, according to Cox Automotive.
Libby offered a similar observation on the fleet purchase.
“Fleet customers do not buy steadily every month,” he said. “They will frequently buy in large lump sums.”
Mobility Global data shows fleet registrations in Missouri jumped 82% year over year in June, when fleet purchases made up 45% of new-vehicle registrations in the state that month.
Retail purchases by individual buyers, by contrast, rose a much more modest 24% in June.
Moreover, median household income in Missouri was $71,600 in 2024, about 12% below the national median. Earlier this year, Cox Automotive said in a report that upper-income households are thriving amid rising home values and tax breaks, while lower-income households remain squeezed by affordability pressures.
Missouri may also have been hit by a national “trade-down.” According to Cox Automotive data, new-car buyers earning under $100,000 fell from 50% of the market in 2020 to 37% last year, while buyers earning over $200,000 nearly doubled their share.
This story was first published by Missouri Business Alert, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
