The Treadmobile
For people who have piled on the pounds over Christmas, it may just be the perfect way to take them off again.
The Treadmobile - the latest piece of fitness equipment to come from America - is a gymnasium treadmill which has been fitted with wheels to allow it to be taken into the great outdoors.
Its maker Alex Astilan, 46, a former decathlete in the Romanian Olympic team, claims that like Daisy, Daisy and the bicycle made for two the Treadmobile helps couples get along together.
But unlike a tandem, where the back seat passenger can take a sneaky rest while their partner does all the pedalling up front, the machine is definitely a two person show.
Mr Astilan, who runs a gym in New York, has built 10 of the £4,500 machines in a bid to follow his pledge to make Americans 'fat to fit in a single generation'.
"The machine was specifically built for two people," he said. "It will enable obese Americans to run errands and exercise at the same time. Americans are obsessed with doing something to lose weight but they don't want to make an effort. They just want to take a slimming pill instead. This is a way to get them out and about in the fresh air.
"I got the idea from people in the gym who said that treadmills were OK but after being on them for an hour in the gym they were frustrated that they had not actually gone anywhere. This one takes them wherever they want to go within reason. It's more fun than jogging and much easier than a bicycle because you don't need to balance."
The Treadmobile has an option of chunky tyres for those who want to go off road, rather than just take it to the park. It has a steering mechanism to take it round corners and brakes to make it stop although whether it is road legal is still a matter of debate.
The machine has already been dubbed 'the Flintstones car for the 21st century' by some critics while others have said it will never take off as a serious piece of exercise equipment.
Mr Astilan, who left Romania in 1990 and claims to have been fitness coach to Bianca Jagger, Cindy Crawford and Darryl Hannah, said: "Some people say it's the most stupid thing they have ever seen, but others think it's just unbelievable."