(Yicai Global) March 17 -- Nissan Motor and Toyota Motor have both stopped production at some of their plants following last night’s 7.4-magnitude earthquake off Japan’s Fukushima coast. Yet the wider impact on the country’s auto sector, and that of the rest of the world, has still to be determined.

The night shift at Nissan’s Iwaki factory was immediately halted following the earthquake, which hit at 10.36 p.m. Beijing time, and all staff have been safely evacuated, a Nissan China executive told Yicai Global today. Production and operations at its plants in Iwaki, Tochigi, Oppama and Honmoku as well as the Yokohama headquarters have not been affected, he added.

Production at Toyota's plants in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures were still suspended this morning and the carmaker is mulling whether or not to resume operations later in the day, local media reported. No further information is available so far, Toyota China told Yicai Global.

Honda China told Yicai Global that it has not received any reports concerning the quake's impact yet.

Previous earthquakes near Fukushima have all affected Japan’s vehicle production to various degrees.

A 7.3-magnitude quake last February caused a big power cut that halted the production of semiconductor giant Renesas Electronics’ plant in Naka for about one week. This led to a worldwide shortage of chips and reduced Japanese carmakers’ output by 1.2 million units and those overseas by 400,000 autos between April and June last year, local media reported.

And Asia’s most powerful quake at magnitude nine on March 11, 2011 brought 12 of Toyota’s factories to a halt for three days, cutting production by about 40,000 units. Nissan suspended manufacturing at five plants. And four of Honda’s factories in Shizuoka and part of its factory in Tochigi closed temporarily.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Kim Taylor