Tesla briefly joined the $1 trillion market-capitalization club in October 2021.
Tesla’s market value passed $1 trillion on October 25, 2021, after its share price jumped following news that Hertz had ordered 100,000 electric vehicles. The milestone made Tesla one of the most highly valued automobile manufacturers ever measured by public-market capitalization.
The company was founded in 2003 and initially focused on proving that electric cars could be desirable and commercially viable. Its Model S, Model 3, Model X, and Model Y helped expand its presence beyond the original Roadster.
Tesla’s market capitalization reflected investor expectations about future vehicle sales, batteries, charging, software, and autonomous-driving technology, not simply the number of cars it had already sold. Rivian and BYD are also important electric-vehicle companies, but they did not make this particular milestone first.