Opel Vivaro

General Motors and Opel are rolling into the Frankfurt Motor Show this year with the new Astra Sports Tourer wagon and this custom Vivaro Surf van concept.

In the United Kingdom, work vans are big business. They're such a big deal that an entire sub-culture surrounds their drivers, known as white van men. White van men tend to look at their vans the same way that die-hard American pickup owners look at their trucks – as tough, do-everything workhorses. So Vauxhall's cheek with this ad will certainly be appreciated.

This is the Opel Vivaro, and as much as it may look like a rebadged Nissan NV200, it isn't (it's quite a bit bigger). Instead, it's a rebadged Nissan Primastar, which in turn is a Renault Trafic. Weird family links aside, this is the all-new, second-generation Vivaro, which Opel originally launched in 2001.

Head over to Europe and you're bound to see this van scurrying about. Only you might not recognize it. That's because this product of a joint venture between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and General Motors is sold under four different nameplates: by Vauxhall and Opel a