Cars having many applications (7)
I believe the answer is:
lotuses
'cars' is the definition.
(Lotus is a car manufacturer)
'many applications' is the wordplay.
'many' becomes 'lot' (I've seen this before).
'applications' becomes 'uses' (I've seen this before).
'lot'+'uses'='LOTUSES'
'having' is the link.
(Other definitions for lotuses that I've seen before include "bloomers" , "Plants" , "sports cars" , "Water lilies" , "flowers" .)