In an interview broadcast by the CBS news program "Face the Nation" on Sunday, March 29, President Barak Obama said that U.S. automakers have not yet taken sufficient steps to become "lean, mean and competitive" under federal oversight.

The president did not elucidate what additional steps will be taken to further aid the automotive industry, although both General Motors and Chrysler LLC are expected to get more money on top of the $17.4 billion in federal loans they have already received.

Obama did indicate that carmakers had more work to do to lower their costs in the fact of continued flagging demand. "We're trying to let them know that we want to have a successful auto industry, U.S. auto industry," he said. "We think we can have a successful U.S. auto industry. But it's got to be one that's realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge ... much more lean, mean and competitive than it currently is."

"That's going to mean a set of sacrifices from all parties involved -- management, labor, shareholders, creditors, suppliers, dealers," Obama continued. "Everybody's going to have to come to the table and say it's important for us to take serious restructuring steps now in order to preserve a brighter future down the road."