I know of a couple manufacturers that provide free visualization models of their products.  Are there more?

Honda  http://www.honda.co.jp/WebPlamo/
Herman Miller  http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Category/0,,a4-c996,00.html

Not exactly a manufacturer, but a wonderful model of the Eiffel Tower,
from the official site:

http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/ludique/visite/3D/index_comp.html

try here for architectural stuff (amongst other things)
www.shareaec.com/index.php

regarding the honda models, it appears they allow one to download all the
paarts, which must then be assembled to get the final item (ASIMO, motorcycle).
I didn't see a link to download the entire ASIMO figure so that I could rig it in
C6Pro, altho they did mention shade 7 there.

Attached Link: Acadia's thread on importing Honda models

They can be imported directly into Poser part by part, but two of the import options need to be unchecked (Centered and Percent of Standard Figure Size). The parts will load at the correct sizes and locations in space to rebuild the object. I haven't tried it yet, but I would guess that the grouping tool could be used to combine the parts of the vehicles that need to be hooked together.  I'd have to dig up one of Geep's tutorials to see how to best rig a car. There wouldn't be too many parts that have to move (doors, wheels, and possibly hood or trunk depending on whether the vehicle has interior details worth showing).

The other is importing through PoseRay, which allows importing all the parts at one time and exporting as an Obj file. 

o.k., thx fr the lnk to acadia's thread, gagn.  I can assemble it in poser or carrara,
but it shaves 15 min. off the workflow if I can download the whole thing at once.

maybe it's like the interossiter test from that movie with the professor from gilligan's
island and the big-forehead dudes.  once we assemble the ASIMO and get it to
do ballet or a stand-to-skip animation, honda sends an e-mail offering us a job
on the secret japanese space station. :lol:

If you are looking to download 3d models , this is a site I use" http://www.archibase.net/gdl"

Sorry if I have posted the link incorrectly.

I have "never" acted my age, nor am I about to start now!

I'm familiar with Archibase, but I'm curious what other real world manufacturers have developed 3D models of their products for visualization in architectural programs and other 3D renders and animation. It's essentially free product placement. They pay TV and movie studios for that kind of advertising, so why not do the same for nothing.  A lot of companies have probably already paid for the creation of models for their own advertisements, so there isn't a huge cost to make them available to the 3D communities.

I think I have a couple more links that I need to dig up.

ShareAEC seems to be a subset of ShareCG, but I think I've found a few models that I didn't have.

Thanks on the Eiffel Tower.  I hadn't found that link.

Here's another manufacturer with visualization models for free.

http://www.swedese.se/download/