With the whole of Britain caught up in baby fever, Volkswagen subsidiary Skoda has come up with what it calls the ultimate accessory for new dads.
The all-terrain, disc-braked, single-seater vRS Mega Man-Pram is one of the stars of Skoda's tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign for the fastest Skoda yet, the seriously macho third-generation Octavia vRS.
WATCH THE SKODA OCTAVIA vRS ADVERTISEMENT
Skoda UK had commissioned a survey of 1000 British dads to find out what would make a pram really cool - and discovered that one in three was embarrassed to be seen pushing a conventional 'girlie' pram in public, and one in four flatly insisted that their partner push the baby when out for walks together.
Yet three out of four said they would be happy to spend more time on 'stroller duty' if the baby buggy was a bit more sporty.
WHAT DADS WANT
The top five features they asked for were: more muscular design (25 percent), big alloy rims to raise ride height (22 percent), hydraulic suspension (16 percent), decent brakes with brake lights (15 percent) and rear-view mirrors (12 percent).
The result is a remarkable pram that stands two metres high on its 20" alloys, with oversized brake callipers, anti-stress grips, a projector-beam headlight for night walks, sports-style upholstery and adjustable lumbar support for the passenger.
WATCH THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES 'MAKING OF' VIDEO