Toyota Motor said it has halted production at two factories with combined annual capacity of 420,000 small cars built mainly for overseas markets, after a massive earthquake hit Japan the previous day.

Toyota, Japan's biggest carmaker, said it had not decided when it will restart either facility. Managers at the plants, one in Iwate prefecture and the other in Miyagi prefecture, the areas hardest hit by Friday's quake and subsequent tsunami, has evacuated personnel, so the current state of the facilities is unknown, Toyota said.

Nissan Motor said that it had halted output at four plants in northeast Japan and close to Tokyo and suspended work at an operation center. The factories will stay idle Sunday (13th March) and Monday (14th March), it said.

Staff at locations close to the coast were evacuated, while employees at other facilities were urged to remain on site. Two workers at a plant in Tochigi prefecture were slightly injured by the quake, Nissan said.

Honda Motor, Japan's No. 3 carmaker, said four of its domestic plants and a research and development center will stayed shuttered on Monday (14th March).