NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla sales plunged by more than half last month in several European countries in a sign that Elon Musk could struggle to revive the company after he shifts from his Washington work to running the automaker again.
Tesla sales collapsed in April by more than two-thirds from a year earlier in Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark, according to auto groups and government agencies Friday. Sales at the Austin, Texas, company dropped by 59% in France and 38% in Norway.
The countries are not major drivers of sales overall, but they are the first to report April results and thus a foretaste of possible trouble elsewhere as Tesla reels from protests and boycotts over Musk wading into politics.
In Germany, where he told voters their country was lost if they didn't vote for a candidate widely derided for her extreme views, sales plunged 62% in the first three months this year. German sales for April are not out yet.
Financial analysts covering Tesla are worried about the Musk backlash but caution it's not clear exactly how much to blame politics for the hit. Other factors suppressing sales include Tesla's aging model lineup and new offerings from rival electric vehicles makers, such as China BYD.
Tesla also had to shut down factories for several weeks this year while upgrading its best selling Model Y sport utility vehicle, pinching supply. And the company is still waiting for European regulators to approve its partial self-driving features in its cars, a big selling point in the U.S. and China.
“We could see sales come back once they get it,” said Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein, though he added about the April figures, “It's never a good thing when you have large sales declines like this.”
The disappointing numbers come a little over a week since Musk told investors on a first-quarter conference call that he would be stepping back from his work in Washington as President Donald Trump's chain-saw wielding cost-cutting czar. Musk has shut down whole government departments as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and thrown tens of thousands of public workers out of their jobs.
On the call, Musk said he would be spending only one or two days a week on DOGE work starting in May, acceding to demands that he refocus on his job as Tesla's chief executive officer.
The stock has been rising since that announcement despite crumbling financial figures. Profits in the first quarter fell 71%.
The sales hit in April was the worst in Sweden, where Mobility Sweden said they fell 81%. That was followed by a 74% plunge in the Netherlands and a 67% drop in Denmark, according to the Dutch trade association BOVAG and Mobility Denmark respectively.
The Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council reported a 38% drop in that country.
One bright spot: Tesla was able to sell more cars in Italy, according to an Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation report, registering a 3% gain for the month.
FILE - Tesla vehicles line a parking lot at the company's Fremont, Calif., factory on Sept. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, file)
FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk walks to the stage to speak at the Butler Farm Show, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)
BRISTOL, Pa. (AP) — A thunderous explosion at a nursing home just outside Philadelphia collapsed part of the building, sent flames shooting out and left people injured and trapped inside, authorities said.
The explosion happened at Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bristol Township, just as a utility crew had been on site looking for a gas leak, although the cause of the explosion was unclear several hours later, as was the extent of the casualties.
A plume of black smoke rose from the nursing home, as emergency responders, fire trucks and ambulances from across the region rushed there, joined by earthmoving equipment.
Authorities said there were injuries, but had yet to say whether there were any fatalities.
Police Lt. Sean Cosgrove said he didn’t know if anyone was missing, and that residents had been evacuated by emergency responders, bystanders and staff.
“A lot of the details at this point are still unknown,” he told reporters at the scene.
Bucks County emergency management officials said they received the report of an explosion at approximately 2:17 p.m. and said a portion of the building was reported to have collapsed. Ruth Miller, a Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency spokesperson, said her agency had been informed that people were trapped inside.
Willie Tye, who lives about a block away, said he was sitting at home watching a basketball game on TV when he heard a “loud kaboom.”
“I thought an airplane or something came and fell on my house,” Tye said.
He got up to go look and saw “fire everywhere” and people escaping the building. The explosion looked like it happened in the kitchen area of the nursing home, he said. Tye said some of the people who live or work there didn’t make it out.
“Just got to keep praying for them,” Tye said.
The cause of the explosion was unclear.
The local gas utility, PECO, said its crews had responded to reports of a gas odor at the nursing home shortly after 2 p.m.
“While crews were on site, an explosion occurred at the facility. PECO crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents,” the utility said in a statement.
Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, press secretary at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, said investigators from the safety division were headed to the scene.
Hagen-Frederiksen said first responders and emergency management officials were describing it as a gas explosion, but that won’t be confirmed until his agency can examine the scene up close.
Musuline Watson, who said she was a certified nursing assistant the facility, told WPVI-TV/ABC 6 that, over the weekend, she and others there smelled gas, but “there was no heat in the room, so we didn’t take it to be anything.”
The 174-bed nursing home is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Philadelphia. Its owner, Saber Healthcare Group, said it was working with local emergency authorities. The facility had been known until recently as Silver Lake Healthcare Center.
The latest state inspection report for the facility was in October and the Pennsylvania Department of Health found that it was not in compliance with several state regulations.
The inspection report said the facility failed to provide an accurate set of floor plans and to properly maintain several stairways, including storing multiple paint buckets and a bed frame under landings.
It also said the facility failed to maintain portable fire extinguishers on one of the three levels and failed to provide the required “smoke barrier partitions,” which are designed to contain smoke on two floors. It also said it didn’t properly store oxygen cylinders on two of three floors.
According to Medicare.gov, the facility underwent a standard fire safety inspection in September 2024, during which no citations were issued. But Medicare’s overall rating of the facility is listed as “much below average,” with poor ratings for health inspections in particular.
Associated Press reporter Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., and Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this report. Levy and Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
First responders work the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
Montgomery County search and rescue join first responders at the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol Township, Pa. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
First responders work the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol Township, Pa. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
CORRECTS NAME OF FACILITY - First responders gather at the scene of an explosion at Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bristol Township, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
First responders gather at the scene of an explosion at Silver Lake Healthcare Center in Bristol Township, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)
First responders are on the scene of a fire after an explosion at a nursing home in Bristol Township, Pa., on Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (WPVI-TV/6ABC via AP)
