Desde la tecnología desarrollada en competición hasta los detalles de diseño de MotoGP, la R9 es producto de la participación de Yamaha en carreras al más alto nivel.
Until 2019, it was also sold as the Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro (briefly sold as the Opel/Vauxhall Arena earlier) by Opel and its associated company Vauxhall.
It was a rebadged version of the Nissan Primera sedan, primarily designed for the European market, and was the result of Nissan's Project 901 initiative.