President Barack Obama has made no bones about his commitment to using the government to help prop up the ailing automotive industry, but his earlier plans to instate a ‘car czar’ to oversee the industry’s restructuring have reportedly been dropped.

The original bill passed for the Detroit 3 bailout actually called for multiple overseers to administer the funds, and whose job would also be to prohibit a carmaker merger or sale, inspect financial records of any carmaker or majority shareholder accepting funds, and to periodically evaluate the carmaker’s efforts and report their compliance.

Instead, Obama has reportedly decided to form a new task force to complete the role. The first clue was with the appointment of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as his 'designee' for overseeing the bailout loans. A senior administration official has now revealed to Automotive News that there is in fact “no car czar”.

The new task force will likely be drawn from the departments of Treasury, Labor, Transportation, Commerce, and Energy, the National Economic Council, the White House Office of Energy and Environment and the Council of Economic Advisers and the Environmental Protection Agency.

There is no word yet on when Obama plans to unveil his strategy but an announcement is expected to come shortly after General Motors’ and Chrysler’s submission of viability plans to the Treasury tomorrow.