9.0 earthquake off Japan's eastern coast halted virtually all car assembly in Japan since March 11, 2011

With a full-scale recovery expected to be months away, the cost to Japan's $700 billion auto industry will be significant.

While the supply disruption has affected all Japanese automakers and even many overseas, the current debacle was a particularly cruel blow for Toyota.

To spread out its geographic risk, the world's biggest automaker has in recent years begun to establish a third production cluster in Japan in the northeast Tohoku region, which bore the full force of the earthquake and tsunami.

Far from quake, Toyota City's suppliers on life support | Reuters