diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml
index 6f558886c..64d79ecbd 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ test_vm_num_nodes: 1
 test_vm_domain_type: "qemu"
 test_vm_arch: "x86_64"
 test_vm_cpu: "host-model"
+test_vm_nic: "virtio"
 test_vm_groups: {}
 test_vm_default_groups: "{{ lookup('env', 'DEFAULT_HOST_GROUPS').split() | default(['baremetal'], true) }}"
 test_vm_disk_gib: "{{ lookup('env', 'VM_DISK') | default(10, true) }}"
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/templates/testvm.xml.j2 b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/templates/testvm.xml.j2
index 15a99bfc7..b74047434 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/templates/testvm.xml.j2
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/templates/testvm.xml.j2
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
     </controller>
     <interface type='network'>
       <source network='{{ test_vm_network }}'/>
+      <model type='{{ test_vm_nic }}'/>
     </interface>
     <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
     <graphics type='vnc' port='-1' autoport='yes'/>
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/vm-nic-type-support-0ac47ccd3d56132c.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/vm-nic-type-support-0ac47ccd3d56132c.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cbbddd777
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/vm-nic-type-support-0ac47ccd3d56132c.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+features:
+  - |
+    Add support for tweaking the vNIC model for the VMs created
+    by bifrost-create-vm-nodes. The default vNIC model is 'virtio'
+    which should provide the best possible performance. The model can be
+    changed using the `test_vm_nic` Ansible variable.