Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is struggling when it comes to automotive sales. Last year, EV sales nationwide fell by roughly 2%. Tesla’s auto deliveries, however, fell by around 9%. So in an already weak market, Tesla failed to keep pace. In response, Tesla’s profits were nearly cut in half in 2025.
The pain continued this week when the first-quarter sales were announced for 2026. Deliveries dropped 14% from the previous quarter, though they did rise modestly year over year.
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But none of this matters for Tesla investors if the company can capitalize on an emerging $10 trillion opportunity. This one opportunity could add trillions to Tesla’s market cap by 2029.
Tesla’s auto sales may have fallen last year, but the share price ended 2025 in the green, helping Tesla improve its market cap to well above $1 trillion.
Why the disconnect? Because many experts believe auto sales won’t dominate Tesla’s sales in the coming years. Instead, robotaxi revenue is expected to dominate Tesla’s trajectory.
“According to our research, Tesla’s robotaxi business could represent ~90% of its enterprise value by 2029, capturing a significant share of ARK’s projected ~$10 trillion global robotaxi market,” concludes a report from Ark Invest, a major Tesla investor.
Tesla’s ability to take a massive share of the global robotaxi market should not be understated. For the last three years running, the Model Y has been the top-selling vehicle worldwide. With production infrastructure already scaled and consumer demand to back up that production capacity, Tesla’s ability to get robotaxis on the roads quickly — an advantage that will also help it rack up reams of real-world driving data to improve its artificial intelligence (AI) models and thus further its edge in autonomous driving capabilities — may be unparalleled in the EV world.
Ark Invest’s report observes:
Tesla’s vertically integrated manufacturing offers a clear scaling advantage. Tesla can produce more than 5,000 vehicles every day. According to our research, Tesla’s Austin factory alone could produce more vehicles than urban Austin’s entire ride-hail fleet in ~9 days. Notably, this estimate excludes Tesla’s planned production of ~2–4 million Cybercabs annually, slated to begin next year.
