The intended role of the tank - damage sponge/break through tank with weak ass gun.
It has the same effective health as Panther.
Lower health and damage reduction are there to make repairing it faster.
Its all balanced if you actually understand what stats it has and why they are thee.
I think by damage reduction he means the vet 1 "hull down" which is really quite bonkers. Tight rope did a test once where the hull down KV1 actually won against a Panther in close/mid range. When I use it i just use it as meat shield for su85's.