I would suggest you use "--virt-type qemu", especially that since qemu 0.10.0 it now uses KVM if available.
If this does not work try "--virt-type kvm".
Qemu, KVM, KQemu are all virtualizers.
Qemu used to provide software virtualization only (comparable to an emulator in some sort), but now (since Qemu 0.10.0) also provides hardware virtualization through KVM (using the AMD-V and VT-x features of nowadays processors) if it is available and installed.
As said above KVM provides hardware virtualization (it uses a feature that can be found in recent/new processors).
KQemu was a fork of Qemu providing both software and hardware virtualization using KVM. It has been integrated directly into Qemu in version 0.10.0.