Saying that the modern SPD is leftwing is like saying that the Democrats in the USA are leftwing.
When compared to american politics... pretty much every german party except maybe the FDP can be considered "leftwing" or even "socialist".
In the NRW elections, between the Linke (which are a lot more popular in the eastern part of Germany), the Pirates and the Greens there's 21.6% that's arguably further left than the SPD which, given that and the fact that it's got about 39% of the vote here, might well be considered centre-left these days when looking at the relative spectrum.