Tesla became the first automaker to surpass a US$1 trillion market capitalization in October 2021.
The milestone followed a major rise in Tesla’s share price after Hertz announced an order for 100,000 electric vehicles. Tesla’s valuation briefly moved above the trillion-dollar threshold, placing it alongside the world’s largest technology companies rather than traditional carmakers.
Tesla’s market value was far larger than its vehicle-production volume compared with established manufacturers. Investors were valuing its electric-vehicle growth, battery technology, software, charging network, and potential autonomous-driving business. This made Tesla’s valuation a frequent subject of debate.
The milestone is sometimes confused with Tesla becoming the first car company to reach US$1 trillion in sales or assets. It did neither: the figure referred specifically to equity market capitalization, calculated by multiplying the share price by the number of outstanding shares.