It was Nissan, the third largest automaker, that called the yen situation a crisis and it's the latest evidence that the currency's advance against the dollar is rattling Japanese exporters.

Chief Operating Officer Toshi-yuki Shi-ga, said there was a huge sense of crisis because of the strong yen that goes beyond near-term losses. Shiga said Nissan wants to maintain Japanese output levels near 1 million cars annually. But it will take various steps to offset near-term currency losses, like building cars production sites abroad wherever possible.