Fortune laid out by American for prestigious car (5)
I believe the answer is:
lotus
'car' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'fortune laid out by american for prestigious' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'fortune' could be 'lot' (as in a person's lot in life) and 'lot' is located in the answer.
'american' could be 'us' (abbreviation for United States) and 'us' is found in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lotus that I've seen before include "Kind of cross-legged position for meditation" , "Mythical plant inducing languor" , "F1 team and car maker" , "Type of water lily" , "----- Eaters, indolent hedonists" .)