Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) became a US$1trn company after news of a large order and that the Tesla Model 3 was the most purchased vehicle in Europe for September, the first time that an electric vehicle (EV) has led the continent's car market.
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Hertz, the American car rental giant, made a massive order of 100,000 Tesla Model 3s for its own fleet.
This news came alongside a report from Jato Dynamics that 24,600 Tesla Model 3 cars were registered across Europe last month, with sales of the model up 58% on September last year as Elon Musk’s company outsold petrol vehicles under the Fiat, Nissan and Seat brands.
It was the first time a vehicle made outside of the continent has occupied the monthly top spot.
The Tesla Model Y also performed strongly in the month of September, selling nearly 9,000 units.
As a result, Tesla led the EV market with a share of 24% and reached a 2.6% market share for all vehicles.
The research suggests that the switch from internal combustion engines vehicles towards electric vehicles is well under way, which is good news for dedicated EV manufacturers such as Tesla and newcomer Lucid Group Inc (NASDAQ:LCID), as well as more established rivals like Volkswagen that are investing heavily to shift production wholly to EVs.
Before the pandemic, there were 10.3 new diesel cars registered for every electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle. Today, that ratio has decreased to just 1.3.
In September, low emission vehicles posted a monthly growth of 44%, to 221,500 units, while the registrations of diesels decreased by 51%, to 167,000 units.
READ: Tesla rolls back updates on ‘full self-driving’
This perhaps makes up somewhat for its announcement that it would be reversing updates on its ‘full self-driving’ vehicle technology due to problems at the beta testing stage.
The electric vehicle manufacturer’s share price reached an all-time high on Monday above US$1000, as the company’s market cap topped US$1trn.
This made it the fifth US company to achieve a 13-figure market valuation, after Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon.
**Updates share price and market cap**