Why Don’t Car Manufacturers Advertise Power In Watts?

100,000 watts sounds more impressive than 130hp. And hp is an arbitrary number that doesn’t have anything to do with horses anymore. It just equals 745 watts, and its current mathematical definition is just (torque x rpm)/ 5,252. This is stupid. Not to mention torque is in lbs/ft in that equation so we’re not even using SI units.

People don’t actually use reason when buying things, so in their head, bigger number = more power, even if the values are the same. So it would stand to reason that watts would be a better spec to present to a buyer.