Academic research partnership the Cambridge-MIT Institute has invited Yoshio Ishizaka, one of the top bods at Toyota in Japan, to air the contents of his brain on the topic of future automotive trends.

Apparently he will be giving a talk about Toyota’s “vision of the future of mobility”, and specifically about its plans for the next five years in the realms of safety, performance and environmental impact. He’ll also be giving a few tips on the art of business management, which Toyota does seem to do better than most of its peers.

There will be time in the 90-minute schedule for a Q&A session, for those keen to ask if the Prius is still losing money and not quite as green as it’s cracked up to be, say.

You’ll probably have to attend in person to put such awkward topics to the man. The lecture will take place on Tuesday 22nd November 2005 at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, UK.

You can register to attend in person. It doesn’t seem to cost anything, but don’t blame Auto IT if you get a bill for £500 afterward.

Fortunately the whole thing will be webcast live starting at 5pm GMT [12pm EST] on the day.