mandated vehicles

19:50 Jul 17, 2008 

Thanks a lot for your efforts, everyone. I appreciate your input and believe the answers have covered the typical meanings of the phrase. The specific meaning in this case, however, turned out to be different. Here is the response I got (at last!) from someone who is a terminologist for the project:
"Mandated vehicles" is a bizarre way of saying "Vehicles affected (by the information given)".
Albeit (obviously) not common, I'm entering this one into the glossary in the hope that it may help the next translator who stumbles into such usage.

04:27 Jul 10, 2008 

Could it mean automobiles that use alternative fuels and, as such, are subject to e.g. some special (more favorable) legal status, promotional policies etc? (In the model range of this manufacturer, there are some modifications with engines running on bioethanol.)