Vehicle needs wire, initially tense for crossing Spanish river (9)
I believe the answer is:
cabriolet
'vehicle' is the definition.
(cabriolet is a kind of vehicle)
'wire initially tense for crossing spanish river' is the wordplay.
'wire' becomes 'cable' (cable is a kind of wire).
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
'for crossing' indicates putting letters inside (some letters go around or cross others).
'spanish river' becomes 'rio' (I've seen this before).
The first letter of 'tense' is 't'.
'cable'+'t'='cablet'
'cablet' enclosing 'rio' is 'CABRIOLET'.
'needs' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for cabriolet that I've seen before include "vehicle" , "Car with a folding roof" , "Soft-top car" , "Horse-drawn carriage with two seats and a folding hood" , "Car - old horse-drawn carriage with a folding hood" .)