Apple is in no uncertain terms selling the product in question as the new and better 13" Pro and has phrases like "level up", "Faster than ever.", etc., and various charts and metrics in bold letters on the marketing pages showing how this 13" M2 MBP is 1.4x faster than the M1 version of the same product.
There's not a single statement or even implied that you need to get the 512GB version or better unless you want a performance decrease SSD read/write speeds.
If there's a spec or feature that underperforms on the least expensive version, like we saw with ProRes video on the 128GB versions of the iPhones 13 Pro, then Apple needs to write this out as boldly as all the other stuff.
I wouldn't expect them to explain specs that are equivalent to the last iteration of the product. It's a given that they are not upgraded if they aren't mentioned.
But if some specs are less than last year's then they have to mention it.
This is highly misleading, no discussion.