A hybrid in-vehicle infotainment network includes a core high-speed network having a number of high-speed nodes, each of which may be connected to at least one other high-speed node via a high-speed backbone link. At least some high-speed nodes may be hybrid nodes. Hybrid nodes may communicate with one or more low-speed devices via one or more low-speed links. Each hybrid node, along with any connected low-speed devices, forms a respective local low-speed network. In some embodiments, hybrid nodes may conform with a 1394 specification for high-speed backbone link communications and may conform with a universal serial bus (USB) specification for low-speed link communications. Communications via the high-speed backbone links and the low-speed links may use a common application layer having defined therein a same maximum packet size and a same set of commands and vendor-specific identifiers.