Some countries go after vehicles with bright, fragrant flowers (10)

'flowers' is the definition.
(carnation is a kind of flower)

'some countries go after vehicles with bright fragrant' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'some' could be 'a' and 'a' is found within the answer.
'countries' could be 'nations' ('nation' can be a synonym of 'country') and 'nations' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?