Yep. I dont think a better Pershing is required. Its just kinda pricey for the game state it enters in. A vehicle that requires the worst engies in the game to fix it and is fighting dedicated Heavy Tank Destroyers without the AT to contest them either needs more stats or less cost. The Tiger has similar issues, which it solves with raw combat power and high speex engies (upgraded pios have a huge repair rate). The Damage Reduction helps. Shaving 10-20 fuel off it would probably be all it needs to feel worth it. It slaps inf well enough and the Commander is pretty good in general. Pricing it the same as other heavy tanks doesnt make much sense due to the limits of AI CoH requires and the limited AT in its design.
I'd be fine with all stats and cost/popcap as is if you could have two of them considering how close the stats are to the Panther.