QAF

Heritage

A letter, a mountain, and a Swiss idea.

The letter

The QAF emblem: the letter qaf in gold, its two dots cut as facets

Qāf is the twenty-first letter of the Arabic alphabet: a deep, definite sound made at the back of the throat, the sound that begins qalb, the heart; qamar, the moon; qimma, the summit; qaṣd, intention; and qāfila, the caravan.

We wanted a name short enough to be said in any language, that belonged to the region rather than being borrowed for it, and that could be drawn. The isolated form of the letter is one sweeping stroke with two dots above it. In our emblem the sweep is drawn in gold and the two dots are cut as facets — like a pair of headlamps.

The letter is also the title of a chapter of the Qur'an. QAF is named for the letter and for the mountain of the old geographies, and nothing on this site or on a vehicle borrows sacred vocabulary. Our model names come from the Kingdom's landscape and from the mountain's own legend.

The mountain

Medieval manuscript cosmology: the earth encircled by the mountain of Qaf, resting on the bull, the fish and the water

In Arabic and Persian cosmology, Mount Qaf is a range of emerald that encircles the whole inhabited world: the boundary of the known, the farthest point any traveller can reach, and, in the Sufi telling, the origin everything comes from and returns to.

Medieval travellers reported that whoever beheld it saw a bright green mountain forming a ring around the earth, and that all who saw it were filled with wonder. In Attar's Conference of the Birds it is the home of the Simorgh and the destination of the whole journey.

For a vehicle whose entire life is the journey to the Haram and the journey home, we could not think of a better name. It is why the flagship is called Emerald, and why emerald is the one colour every QAF carries somewhere, even if only on the badge.

The Swiss idea

Switzerland has never had a volume car industry. What it has had, more than once, is a coachbuilder with the confidence to take another maker's platform and finish it to a standard the original never reached.

In the 1970s Peter Monteverdi, working from Basel, took an American utility vehicle, had it re-bodied in Italy, fitted it with a luxurious cabin and sold it to buyers in the Gulf at a price above a Range Rover. Around 2,700 were built, and many went to the Middle East, where a robust chassis and a civilised cabin made sense in the heat.

QAF is that idea again, with an electric platform. We buy the platform, we own the finish, and every year we do more of the vehicle ourselves.

Illuminated manuscript painting of the Simorgh on the slopes of the mountain of Qaf

The names on the ladder

ModelNamed for
Sand رملThe colour every QAF wears below the belt line, and the ground the Kingdom is built on. The working vehicle.
Stone حجرThe pale stone of the districts rising beside the Grand Mosque, and the guest vehicle's livery.
Emerald زمردThe stone Mount Qaf is made of. The flagship.
The models are named for what they are made of: descriptive names are hard to monopolise and hard to dispute. The QAF mark goes to clearance before first use on a vehicle.

Timeline

  1. 1976Monteverdi presents the Safari and the Sahara: Swiss coachwork on another maker's platform, sold into the Gulf.
  2. 2025King Salman Gate is announced by HRH the Crown Prince. The last-kilometre programme is conceived for the districts beside AlMasjid AlHaram.
  3. 2026QAF is founded in Zug. The three models are named. The showcase fleet is designed.
  4. 2027First vehicles enter service in Makkah. planned