What does the term PS mean?

Usually a car's power is denoted in terms of PS. What does this PS mean? How is it measured? What are the other units in which a vehicle's power can be measured?

PS stands for pferdestarke(dont remember exactly)....most commony car power is measured in PS & BHP(break horse power)...BHP & PS are two measures adopted by two different standard agencies...

1BHP=.986PS

& 1BHP=745watts 

ok apurv.... Tat was really informative...

Does any one know how this is measured???

There is a machine called engine dynamometer to measure the engine output. Normally they will be available with the manufacturers and the testing labs 

Hi, regarding the engine dynamometer, It is setup which has a flywheel like arrangement connected to the engine's output shaft. A rope is wound around the flywheel and on the one side of the rope weights can be suspended. The engine is started and at a constant rpm the with a constant weight the torque is measured. Then the weight is increased and again the rpm is measured. Then some formulas are used to arrive at the power of the engine

Thats correct.

If you are interested in the technicals, please vist this page.

http://www.epi-eng.com/piston_engine_technology/power_and_torque.htm

Excellent explanations... Thanks for the link.