News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Will Tesla and Google Kill the German Car? by modulos on Monday November 04, 2019 @04:30PM (#21446702)
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.

Re:Will Tesla and Google Kill the German Car? by nomel on Monday November 04, 2019 @07:44PM (#21448476)
> 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.

Re:Will Tesla and Google Kill the German Car? by detaro on Monday November 04, 2019 @07:59PM (#21448560)
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.
Re:Will Tesla and Google Kill the German Car? by nomel on Monday November 04, 2019 @09:51PM (#21449154)
Fair enough, but you won't find a "Turbo" labelled ICE, Porsche or anything else, without an actual turbocharger.
Re:Will Tesla and Google Kill the German Car? by noipv4 on Monday November 04, 2019 @08:23PM (#21448707)
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.