Yes, the caballo is the stupid horsepower, only it is the European variety,
of 75 kgm/s or 736 W, 9 W less than the US/UK animal. Although this travesty
of a measuring units has been outlawed from 1978 it is indestructible. What
makes it so, is beyond me. Is a unit the more durable, the more stupid and
irrational it is?
Caballo, cavallo vapore, cheval vapeur, Pferdestaerke, paardenkracht, all
names in different languages for the same animal, the continental
horsepower, that should really be sent to the knackers yard!
Han
The same reasons Canadian grocers still show prices in pounds.
If your car has a 120 kW engine, it has about 160 horsepower or caballos or chevals or pferds or whatever. 160 is bigger than 120. The car appears more powerful. Bigger is better.
If you show apples in pounds the price appears lower because a pound is smaller than a kg. Smaller is better.
The marketeers know human nature.
Carleton
