New Nissan LEAF gets Royal ‘Seal of Approval’ at Sunderland’s new Northern Spire Bridge

The new Nissan LEAF has been front and centre at the opening of the new Northern Spire Bridge in Sunderland by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

A new bridge over the River Wear in Sunderland is as good an example of the area’s regeneration and success as any, apart, perhaps, from the success of the huge Nissan Plant in the area.

And those two shining examples of Sunderland’s success came together this morning as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived to open Sunderland’s new Northern Spire Bridge – in a new Nissan LEAF.

The new Northern Spire Bridge is on the west side of the city, a three-span cable-stayed bridge, now the largest structure in North East England, and the Duke and Duchess were roped in to tighten up a couple of nuts on the bridge before declaring it open.

The Royal couple arrived in a new Nissan LEAF – with a small convoy of Nissans following behind – a convoy which didn’t have to come far.

The huge Nissan Plant in Sunderland is within sight of the new bridge, and no company has played a bigger part in Sunderland’s regeneration than Nissan, with more than three million Qashqais built there in the last decade, and the new LEAF, Juke and Infiniti Q30 and QX30 also produced. Nissan also employs around 7,000 workers in Sunderland.

But even though the Qashqai is the big number car at Sunderland, it was appropriate that it was the electric LEAF ferrying the Royal entourage to the new bridge, with both a great example of Sunderland’s new direction and future.