Tesla became the first automobile manufacturer to reach a US$1 trillion market capitalization.
Tesla crossed the milestone in October 2021 after its shares surged following news of a major vehicle order from Hertz. The company’s valuation reflected expectations for rapid electric-vehicle adoption, expansion of manufacturing capacity, software-related revenue, and future growth beyond its sales at that time.
Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, with Elon Musk joining as an early investor and becoming chairman. The company’s Model 3 and Model Y were especially important to its move toward higher-volume production.
Traditional automakers such as Toyota and Volkswagen have much larger manufacturing histories, but market capitalization measures investors’ expectations rather than cumulative production. Tesla’s milestone therefore did not mean it had built more cars than established rivals.