The reference model of an MRC (model reference control) provides the desired trajectory a plant should follow and thus the design of a reference model has a significant effect on control performance. In most control systems control input to a plant has some bounds and it is preferable to make use of as large control inputs as possible within the range of no saturation. In this paper a new approach of selecting the reference model is proposed for bounded control inputs. Design variables of the reference model are determined in such a way that maximizes the performance index within the range of no saturation. Moreover this variable reference model is regularly updated during control. This scheme is verified by application to the servo motor position control system in various simulations. The responses of the MRC with a variable reference model show better tracking performance than that with a fixed reference mode. Moreover by adjusting the update interval of the reference model the control performance can be further improved.