Looks like Australia is going to get it’s first Japanese diesel car. Mazda is introducing the Mazda6 to the Australians in hatch and wagon form. They’ll be priced at $38,090 (about $29,000 U.S.) for the hatch and $35,205 (almost $27,000 U.S.) for the wagon.

Power for the new Mazda6 will be coming from a 2.0L turbo diesel rated at 105kW and 360Nm of torque (141hp and 266ft-lbs. of torque) which is pretty good. All this power will help propel it to a 100kmh (62mph) in a healthy 9.5seconds.Mazda is claiming all this power only requires a miserly sip of diesel. City driving should get you about 5.9L/100km (this means about 40mpg to us), and highway of course is even better only taking 5.0L to go 100km (about 47mpg).

The 6 starts off with a great list of standard equipment for both safety and comfort. If you ever get in a accident you’ll be happy to know you have six airbags protecting you, anti-lock brakes, anti-whiplash head restraints, and collapsible pedals. For comfort you get the same features, standard, as the Mazda6 Luxury gasser version. Climate-control air-conditioning, 16-inch alloy wheels, leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio and cruise controls, and a six-CD stereo are included on the wagon. The hatch has leather seats, Bose stereo and power driver’s seat with memory and two presets.

All this and Mazda is only expecting to sell about 600 a year. I’m sure they could unload some in the U.S. if they could meet emissions.