I will defend HPL for what they are, but also be realistic and acknowledge them for what they aren't.
HPL has no intention to market to the masses. They desire to go after the niche within a niche; the ultra premium lubricants. Therefore what the common man sees in their packaging and marketing may seem, well, unimpressive. Further, their product info can be really difficult to differentiate at times; for example the PCEO, PPCEO and PPPCEO really overlap in terms of wording on their website. This makes it hard to understand the differences between those choices.
In fact, they don't even make the bulk of their money or products in the automotive market; they actually focus on top-tier industrial lubricants such as food-grade lubes and compressor oils, etc. The automotive products are a sideline passion for HPL; it's a joyful distraction for them. Still, they put every effort into their products; all of them. Conversely, they have minimal resources to put towards large marketing campaigns. Further, they have little interest in attaining API certs; there's no ROI for them, and in many cases to do so would dilute the intent of their superior product approach.
I understand that some folks are not impressed with HPL. This is likely because they have never been to the open-house tours, talked with David Ward and their direct contributing industry chemists, etc. If you're not intimately familiar with HPL, then the product costs seem outlandish and unearned. But once you learn first hand about their commitment to quality and intelligent approach to top-tier products, it begins to make sense.
All that said, using HPL for any "normal" application in a short-to-moderate OCI is a total waste of money. There's no ROI calculation that would ever be justified by using HPL lubes in "normal" daily life; there are plenty of lubes which do that job for less money. Even Dave Ward would tell you that using his lubes for mundane applications won't make sense. He builds his products for extreme circumstances; l-o-n-g OCIs, ultra-severe use, racing apps, etc. HPL excels at making ultra-premium products for niche automotive markets.
They also have outstanding direct-customer-contact sales and product information exchange. What you can't find on their website is easily gleaned by talking directly to them. How many times has a top management person from Mobil1 or Castrol taken your call or email and DIRECTLY gave you answers that weren't boilerplate garbage? HPL has gone so far as to respond to BITOG member requests for specific PAO based products in specific vis ranges. Try getting that out of any of the majors.
I do not worship at the feet of Ward. But by gosh, I recognize excellence and commitment to quality when I see it. I challenge anyone to find another company like HPL and have them cater to all our BITOG whims and questions.
HPL isn't for everyone; there was never any intent to be so. So if you don't see the logic in using HPL, then you shouldn't use HPL. If HPL isn't a good fit for your application (and there are many times it won't be a good fit), then don't use it. But, that does not mean HPL isn't a great product, website mediocracy aside.
