Hero MotoCorp shares fell as much as 7% to a day low of Rs 5,167 on Wednesday, after its August wholesale numbers missed street estimates.

The drop came after the two-wheeler maker reported total wholesales of 5.68 lakh units for August, up just 3% from a year earlier.

The Street had pencilled in growth of around 7%. There is a silver lining, though.

Retail sales, tracked through VAHAN registrations, grew a strong 19% year on year, showing demand at the dealership level held up even as factory dispatches lagged.

Breaking it down further, motorcycle volumes slipped 1.5% to 4.94 lakh units, while scooters bucked the trend with a 42% jump.

Exports fell sharply too, down nearly 25% to 26,093 units, though domestic dispatches rose to 5.42 lakh units from 5.19 lakh units a year ago.

For comparison, rival Honda’s two-wheeler arm HMSI sold 5.79 lakh units in August, up 8% from last year, with both its domestic and export numbers growing at a healthier pace than Hero’s.

On the EV side, Hero said last month it wants to triple its VIDA production capacity to 45,000 units a month by the end of FY27.

Capacity has already grown from 15,000 to nearly 30,000 units a month, its CEO said. There is also a recent update on Hero’s stake in Ather Energy.

Last week, Ather’s board approved a Rs 1,200 crore preferential fundraise, under which Hero, its largest shareholder, was allotted 76.2 lakh convertible warrants at Rs 1,260 each.

If fully converted, this works out to an investment of nearly Rs 1,000 crore, taking Hero’s fully diluted stake in Ather to 29.88% from 28.69%.

As of 12:48 pm on September 2, Hero MotoCorp shares were trading at Rs 5,232, down 5.81% for the day. The stock is now down over 10% for the year so far.

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