Jaguar is to pull away from high volume fleet business to concentrate on selling high-end products rather than less profitable cars.

With sales of X-type struggling and the S-type waiting to be replaced in the next two years, Jaguar’s new managing director Geoff Cousins believes the firm needs to behave ‘more like Porsche and less like BMW’.

Speaking at the launch of the new XKR, Cousins said Jaguar would be looking to sell fewer cars, but at a higher margin. It would be concentrating on smaller business customers, where a strong dealer network would play a key role, Cousins claimed.

And with residual values of the X-type and S-type sliding, especially as more X-types come back into the used market after completing three and four-year fleet cycles, Cousins is looking to recruit a new residual value manager to ensure supply is in the right place, and to look at alternative channels to maximise used prices. Also on the stand was a new limited edition XJR called the Portfolio, which takes some of the styling cues of XKR, such as the vents on the front wings. It comes at a time when sale of XJ are up 21% year-on-year.

Cousins believes the luxury saloon market is going to enjoy a resurgence.

He said: ‘I think most people have tried an SUV as an alternative, and are now coming back to the traditional saloon.’