it just sounds to me like they are trying to give people a higher number and keep the lower number out of light so they can sell more units to unsuspecting/uneducated consumers?

I'd say yes and no? The problem is pretty largely that their competition uses crank HP numbers, so to stay reasonably competitive they have to also. Then that applies to competitors so it's sorta like the car manufacturers are stuck in a loop of having to do that.

And really it doesn't matter one way or the other for most buyers. Laymen don't really know the difference between 200hp and 300hp, only that one number is bigger. The effective result for laymen would be no different whether they're looking at BHP, WHP, or Crank HP.