Talk about a completely false, blanket statement. If you want a base car, you can dealer trade for it, or order it.
I got my GTI on dealer trade, 0 options. Went in today to look at the new 2010 GTI's and guess what, a 0 option car.
Most 335's and S4's wont be 0 option, your right, and neither will the SHO's. Just because base cars aren't popular, doesn't mean that some people wouldn't rather have a base S4 than a loaded SHO.
The S4 I built was just under 50k. None of the high dollar options, just sport diff, blutooth and 6mt.