Strip purple vehicle (5)
I believe the answer is:
agent
'vehicle' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'strip purple' is the wordplay.
'strip' indicates the central letters (I've seen 'stripped' mean this).
'purple' becomes 'magenta' (I have seen 'Reddish purple' mean 'magenta' so perhaps 'purple' could also mean 'magenta').
The middle of 'magenta' is 'AGENT'.
(Other definitions for agent that I've seen before include "Person who does business on behalf of another" , "One's representative" , "Negotiator" , "envoy" , "Catalyst" .)