American car brands were once notorious for “decontenting” base-model cars in an effort to pinch pennies and increase profits. This often meant making once-standard features, like say power windows, an expensive option. While decontenting is usually a sign of an economy car or a struggling automaker, it isn’t always a bad thing.

The Truth About Cars reports that Chrysler is working on a decontented version of the 300 SRT8 performance sedan that does away with certain features in the pursuit of more speed…and at a lower price. This is one case where decontenting is a very, very good thing.

The irony of course being that the Australian car market is in the pits…unless you’re talking about V8-powered performance cars. In fact, Chrysler says that Australia is the second largest market for its SRT range of vehicles, after of course the U.S. Even as models like the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore lose sales, there has actually been an increase in sales of the most expensive, V8-equipped models.

To that end, Chrysler plans to offer a decontented 300 SRT8 model that does away with neat but unnecessary features like forged wheels, the radar-guided cruise control, and adjustable suspension setup. Not only does this make the Chrysler 300 SRT8 lighter and faster, but it also cuts the price down from $66,000 Australian dollars to just $60,000, a cut of 10%.

If you ask us, this is a great idea…and we can’t help but wonder why Chrysler doesn’t offer the same stripper model in America.