ASUS makes 'Turbo' graphics cards.

Vitamix and Robot Coupe both make 'Turbo' blenders.

Intel offers 'Turbo Boost' CPUs.

Miele makes a 'Turbo' vacuum cleaners.

Intuit makes a 'Turbo' tax preparation product.

Porsche buyers know that 'Turbo' means 'it's the fast, non-track variant', and normal people also know it means 'this one is fast'. A few nerdy pedants will get upset, but literally nobody cares about them. They weren't going to buy one anyway.

> Porsche buyers know that 'Turbo' means

As a car guy, I strongly disagree. In the car world, nearly without exception, including all previously Porches, "Turbo" is a label indicating that a specific piece of hardware is installed on the ICE: a turbocharger.

This is like putting a "manual" or "automatic" label on an electric. Sure, you could probably consider an electric a manual 1 speed or automatic 1 speed, but it's not going to get anything but marketing BS eye rolls from anyone that knows about cars.

It feels like more a branding term with ICE Porsche too ever since they've started putting turbochargers on the non-Turbo-branded versions too.

Fair enough, but you won't find a "Turbo" labelled ICE, Porsche or anything else, without an actual turbocharger.

Exactly! As an owner of a Turbocharged ICE sports car (EVO X) I can say that turbocharger(s) in a car gives it some very specific characteristics (namely a specific torque curve to the engine) which differentiates it from a non-turbocharged vehicle. The turbocharger compresses the input charge and is driven by the exhaust gases. If companies start labelling non-turbocharged vehicles as Turbo, it's a complete mis-representation and a faux-pas in my opinion. Porsche has simply got it wrong here.

And Tesla has announced a "roadster" with a hardtop roof and two rows of seats....

It's been a least a decade that Porsche label car as "Turbo" as a product line and not based on the feature. The term "Turbo" is just a legacy term in its product line.

You can argue the same concept about Tesla and its constantly lying about autonomous driving.

At least the Turbo Porsche is actually faster than the base just not using an actual turbo forcing air into the engine.

My old PC had a Turbo button and it also did not have forced air induction.

> My old PC had a Turbo button and it also did not have forced air induction.

You just gave me a hilarious idea for a PC mod.

Yeah Tesla is way ahead of the curve here, they've figured out that all car feature branding is supposed to be based on "Spaceballs" references.

They're marketing to a younger crowd. Average age of a Porsche owner is 40. Go where the puck is going to be, not where it is. My elderly neighbor with his Porsche might not appreciate the reference, but mid 30s I enjoy it.

Spaceballs was released 32 years ago. Not such a young crowd anymore:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094012/

In any case, Volkswagen is going for Star Wars references with Porsche:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo95p9mdiWg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc-fWmWxx4Q

And Marvel references with Audi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmgwBKzHIuA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hpNFDpRNlc

I suppose young was the wrong word. Perhaps "fun" or "not stuffy" would've been better? Fart mode, theater mode, pop culture naming of options in the vehicle config > fit & finish. I don't have an exact name for it, but I can see the difference between my older neighbor and what he values in his Porsche vs what I value in my Model S.

>I don't have an exact name for it, but I can see the difference between my older neighbor and what he values in his Porsche vs what I value in my Model S.

More interest in the driving experience rather than just a form of transportation? As a die-hard auto enthusiast I can assure you that a lot of younger people would be driving Porsches if they weren't so expensive. The 911 is now starting at over $110k and the entry level Boxster and Cayman just under $60k. Porsche's options are also notoriously expensive, so if you don't custom order a barebones model through the dealer and wait for it to be made that $57k Cayman is likely going to cost you $75k+. There are a lot of objectively better performing sports cars for those prices, but none of them have the refinement that Porsche offers. Also, the PDK is quite possibly the best DCT available on a car under $200k. I have a GT-R if that tells you anything about what I value in a car. For most auto enthusiasts Tesla is pretty far down on the list of desirable vehicles for anything other than a dense traffic daily driving commute. I've driven a few Teslas and while they're nice vehicles packed with awesome technology, they don't check the boxes I'm interested in for how much they cost.

Most auto enthusiasts will end up in a performance Model 3 (I’d wager). Hard to beat the value compared to the other vehicles (and their exceedingly high prices) you mentioned.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DSRWKxytW40 (Top Gear Model 3 vs BMW M3)

I'm not sure that you fully understand what aspects of a car's performance that enthusiasts seek. Just about any car can slide around a corner or go fast with enough coaxing, but the feedback and feel are not something that can be programmed or "tricked" into the experience. I say that as a GT-R owner, a car that is often criticized by enthusiasts as a "computer on wheels". A common saying in the auto enthusiast community to emphasize handling and feedback goes something like "it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow". That's not a literal statement about velocity, but more about how driver feedback is almost everything in the driving experience. Driving a Miata at on a curvy road with hairpin turns is more fun to me than doing the same in a Ferrari 488. The Ferrari is capable of so much more, but it doesn't provide the same experience to the driver in that environment. EV's in the same way have a much narrower scope of "ideal enjoyment" due to physical limitations, but in time they'll be worked out.

Most enthusiasts will absolutely not end up in a performance Model 3 for quite some time. I've been behind the wheel of one, along with a Model S P90D and a Model X P100D. They have impressive low end acceleration, but from an auto enthusiast's point of view that's where their allure ends. Model 3's (and all Teslas in general) have very poor top end acceleration which is crucial for track use and drag racing, they're extremely heavy for their size, they overheat easily with aggressive driving and most importantly they feel numb and isolated to the driver. Those are all great for a comfy daily driver, but for performance driving they're all negatives.

I'm excited to see how the Taycan fares, because Porsche knows how to design enthusiast cars. If anyone is going to bring EV's to the consumer auto enthusiasts, it's them.

Star Wars and Marvel movies are stuffy?