CHRYSLER’S fastest sedan, the 300 SRT8, has returned wearing a new skin wrapped around the 6.4-litre V8 tucked under its long bonnet.

Bold, brash, and still very American, its only flaw in the eyes of some buyers is that the $66,000 pricetag pushed it well inside luxury car tax territory – funnily enough, the big Hemi under the hood doesn’t qualify for a fuel-efficient car exemption – giving the taxman a healthy bite of revenue on what is effectively a beer-and-blue-singlet ride.

Chrysler has since come up with a solution. It has stripped out some gear, pitched in cloth rather than leather seats, and cut $10,000 off the price tag to bring it down to $56,000, well under the controversial tax’s $60,316 cut-off.

Is the taxman’s loss your gain?

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