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This American Life spends a week selling Jeeps in Long Island

So you think you know car dealers? Well, maybe you do, but This American Life spent a month at Town and Country Jeep Chrysler Doge Ram in Long Island to give us a behind-the-scenes look (or listen, since it's a radio program) at what it's like to be a car dealer.
Yes, there's a lot of swearing in thick New York accents, frustration, confusion, and generally it's a madhouse at the dealership. But that's understandable when the sales staff has to sell 129 vehicles in October in order to get an $85,000 manufacturer bonus - with several other Jeep dealerships within a 10-mile radius.
The episode, 129 Cars, is worth a listen, but make sure you have 71 minutes to spare if you want to get through it in one sitting. Head here for the unedited version or here for the bleeped version (which is 58 minutes long).

Autoblog fan favorite car ads from Super Bowl XLIX

Super Bowl XLIX is in the books, and the New England Patriots emerged victorious. Of course, if you're like us, the big game wasn't so much about the battle between the east coast and west, so much as a fight between the world's automotive advertisers. We collected and collated all of last night's new ads and put them together for you to vote on. And yes, we're limiting this year's contest to last night's new features. That's why you aren't seeing Dodge's epic Wisdom among our collection of commercials, and it's a similar story with Chevrolet's Truck Guy Focus Group series, which highlights the new Colorado. You can still vote for your favorites. We won't be closing the voting on our Super Bowl page, so while the winners and losers are correct as of this writing, it's entirely possible that there could be some changes in the rankings as time goes on. So, without any further ado, here are the winning ads based on your voting. Nissan: With Dad Fiat: Ready For Action Jeep: Beautiful Lands BMW: Newfangled Idea Mercedes-Benz: Fable NASCAR: America Start Your Engines As for those ads that failed to impact you, loyal readers, Toyota was the absolute, undisputed loser. The Japanese brand ran four ads in total – two for Toyota and two for Lexus – and all of them have negative tallies as of this writing. Lexus' Make Some Noise and Lets Play and Toyota's One Bold Choice and My Bold Dad both had very weak showings among the commercials that aired, although they weren't alone. Neither Mazda nor Kia scored particularly well, despite featuring celebrity magic act Penn and Teller and former James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, respectively. Chevrolet was the winner of the losers, as of our writing, recording the fewest downvotes for its audience-punking The Big Game ad. If you want to take a second look at the losing ads, you can head back to our Super Bowl page for the complete collection. But for now, head into Comments and let us know what you think of the results.

Detroit gets ready to train up workers for coming FCA Jeep job boom

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles this week announced a $4.5 billion investment that would bring 6,500 new manufacturing jobs to Detroit and its suburbs and, nearly two years before the first new vehicles will even roll off the line, the city already is taking steps to ensure it can provide enough workers with the needed skills. Detroit's economy was once dominated by automotive manufacturing, but since the industry's gradual migration from the metro area it has suffered among the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the country. Not long ago, Detroit was struggling to provide basic services, culminating in bankruptcy in 2013. Providing job training then would have been a tall order. But in its recovery, the city has overhauled its training programs and slowly built a track record for preparing people for specific jobs. "We're not starting from scratch," Jeff Donofrio, the city's executive director of workforce development, said Wednesday, a day after the Italian-American automaker announced its plan . "We want to make sure we're prepared for all the ... jobs that will come to the city as a result of the investments." The city works with two high schools, a community college and a workforce development organization, in partnerships with the auto union and companies, to tailor training programs for positions in manufacturing, construction, information technology and health care. Detroit worked closely with global auto parts supplier Flex-N-Gate to ensure Detroiters were handed jobs when the company last year opened a plant in what officials described as the largest investment in the city in two decades. The city and company developed customized training with the nonprofit Focus: Hope, which prioritizes workforce development and education. "About 250 individuals went through that training and a vast majority were hired by Flex-N-Gate," Donofrio said. With tax breaks and land acquisitions still to be hammered out, Fiat Chrysler's specific workforce needs have yet to be revealed. But Donofrio insists that the city has a growing force of eligible workers: Detroit last year enrolled about 2,500 people in training leading to a credential for a specific job, up from about 700 two years earlier. Some prospective FCA jobs could be offered to laid-off Fiat Chrysler workers or those already working for the company on a temporary basis, and United Auto Workers officials say many of them are already in Detroit.