diff --git a/hw/sparc/leon3.c b/hw/sparc/leon3.c
index ec2816bf94..8c66d5af24 100644
--- a/hw/sparc/leon3.c
+++ b/hw/sparc/leon3.c
@@ -107,7 +107,6 @@ static void leon3_set_pil_in(void *opaque, uint32_t pil_in)
 static void leon3_generic_hw_init(MachineState *machine)
 {
     ram_addr_t ram_size = machine->ram_size;
-    const char *cpu_model = machine->cpu_model;
     const char *kernel_filename = machine->kernel_filename;
     SPARCCPU *cpu;
     CPUSPARCState   *env;
@@ -122,11 +121,7 @@ static void leon3_generic_hw_init(MachineState *machine)
     ResetData  *reset_info;
 
     /* Init CPU */
-    if (!cpu_model) {
-        cpu_model = "LEON3";
-    }
-
-    cpu = SPARC_CPU(cpu_generic_init(TYPE_SPARC_CPU, cpu_model));
+    cpu = SPARC_CPU(cpu_create(machine->cpu_type));
     env = &cpu->env;
 
     cpu_sparc_set_id(env, 0);
@@ -222,6 +217,7 @@ static void leon3_generic_machine_init(MachineClass *mc)
 {
     mc->desc = "Leon-3 generic";
     mc->init = leon3_generic_hw_init;
+    mc->default_cpu_type = SPARC_CPU_TYPE_NAME("LEON3");
 }
 
 DEFINE_MACHINE("leon3_generic", leon3_generic_machine_init)