Tesla became the first automaker valued at more than $1 trillion in October 2021. Its market capitalization passed that threshold after the company’s share price surged following news that Hertz had ordered 100,000 Tesla vehicles for its rental fleet.
Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, with Elon Musk joining soon afterward as an early major investor and chairman. The company delivered its first production car, the Roadster, in 2008, then expanded with the Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y. The Model 3 helped move Tesla from a niche electric-car maker toward mass-market production.
Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying a public company’s share price by its shares outstanding, so it can change daily and does not equal annual revenue or physical assets. Tesla’s $1 trillion milestone reflected investor expectations about electric vehicles, battery technology, software, and future growth. It did not mean Tesla was the largest automaker by sales at that time; traditional manufacturers still produced more vehicles.