A MOMENTOUS day for the region’s car industry saw the first UK shipment of Leaf electric cars arrive at the same dock where North-East built models will leave for European customers in little over two years.

The 67 cars, built in Japan, are bound for customers in the UK and Ireland who have ordered the Nissan vehicle ahead of it going on sale in this country on March 1.

From 2013, the car will be built at Sunderland for the European market, meaning that, if successful, the electric vehicle industry could sustain thousands of jobs in the region for generations to come.

Dr Colin Herron, manufacturing and productivity manager at One North East, compared its arrival yesterday to that of the Ford Model T, the world’s first mass-produced car in 1908, hitting the roads.

In keeping with Leaf’s green credentials it arrived at the Port of Tyne aboard Nissan’s new energy saving car carrier City of St Petersburg, which was completing its maiden voyage.

Nissan’s vice-president for manufacturing in the UK, Kevin Fitzpatrick, said: “It is a big milestone today.

“The first vehicles are coming here and it is quite appropriate that they have arrived on a vessel designed for energy saving.

“These are the first massproduced electric vehicles globally.”

Mr Fitzpatrick revealed that the first 27,000 Leaf cars being produced for the international market in the financial year to April, have already been sold, which he believed demonstrated the confidence in the product.

He added that the building of Nissan’s electric vehicle battery plant, in Sunderland, was nearly complete, with the installation of processing equipment due to start in April, ahead of its opening next year.

Dr Herron said: “To be in the North-East watching something as revolutionary as the Ford Model-T coming off the ship here is almost emotional.

“This is a move to a new future,.

“I am not saying that petrol or diesel cars are dead, but to be in a position, here on the Tyne, where we are seeing the future, is amazing.

“And the fact is, it is happening right here.

“It is the culmination of a lot of time and effort where we are trying to position the region to take advantage of what is happening today and, if we pull it off, this region will be known not only in the UK as a major car manufacturer, but internationally.”